I argue that John Hick’s soul-making theodicy is committed to opposing social progress. By focusing on justifying the current amount and distribution of suffering and evil, Hick’s theodicy ends up having to condemn even positive change as undesirable. First, I give a brief outline of Hick’s theodicy, with a particular emphasis on the role of earned virtue in justifying the existence of evil. Then I consider two understandings of social progress: progress as the elimination of suffering and evil; and progress as the promotion of earned virtue. I further distinguish the earned virtue understanding of social progress into two kinds, in which the relationship between social structures and moral growth either: (1) allows members of a more advanced society to start closer to perfection; or (2) allows members of a more advanced society to progress more quickly (and presumably further). I argue that no matter which approach we take, Hick’s theodicy struggles with the idea of social progress. Hick is either straightforwardly committed to opposing social progress, or he can support it only at the expense of being unable to justify status quo of suffering and evil.

中文翻译：

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造魂与社会进步

我认为约翰希克的灵魂塑造神学致力于反对社会进步。通过专注于证明当前苦难和邪恶的数量和分布是合理的，希克的神学最终不得不谴责即使是积极的变化也是不可取的。首先，我简要概述了希克的神正论，特别强调了赢得美德在证明邪恶存在方面的作用。然后我考虑对社会进步的两种理解：进步是消除苦难和邪恶；和进步作为促进赢得的美德。我进一步将社会进步的赢得美德理解分为两种，其中社会结构与道德成长之间的关系要么：（1）允许更先进社会的成员开始更接近完美；或 (2) 允许更先进社会的成员更快（并且可能进一步）进步。我认为，无论我们采取哪种方法，希克的神正论都与社会进步的理念相抗衡。希克要么直接致力于反对社会进步，要么只能以无法为苦难和邪恶的现状辩护为代价来支持它。