God's Problem
How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
Why does an all-powerful God allow suffering? Bart D. Ehrman explores the Bible’s sharply conflicting answers.
One Bible, Many Answers
Ehrman examines the ancient prophets who viewed famine, conquest, and drought as divine retribution for communal sin.
The book contrasts those prophetic warnings with the poetry of Job and Ecclesiastes, where innocent misery defies easy moral formulas.
Drawing on biblical history from the Torah through the New Testament, the author explores how apocalyptic writers attributed earthly agony to cosmic adversaries rather than human wrongdoing.
In God's Problem, the New York Times bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus challenges the contradictory biblical explanations for why an all-powerful God allows us to suffer.
Theodicy: Investigates the stark divide within the Book of Job, contrasting the prose folktale of a heavenly wager with the poetic voice from the whirlwind that refuses to justify divine justice.Old Testament: Explores the radical skepticism of Ecclesiastes, where the Teacher insists that chance happens to all, the righteous and wicked share the same mortal end, and life’s fleeting pleasures should be embraced.Biblical Interpretation: Examines the concept of redemptive suffering in Second Isaiah, tracing how the exiled servant bearing the transgressions of others laid the groundwork for Christian doctrines of atonement.Problem of Evil: Unpacks the apocalyptic worldview in the Book of Daniel, detailing how Syrian persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes inspired visions of monstrous beasts and the promise of bodily resurrection.Also by This Author: Misquoting Jesus, How Jesus Became God and Jesus, Interrupted.
Customer Reviews
Not God's problem, our problem
Ehrman goes through the various explanations, gleaned from the Bible, to explain why God allows/initiates suffering (pain, illness, etc.) yincluding some that I wasn't aware of. The explanations range from making God look weak - it's the Devil that causes it, to the sadistic - God kills Job's wife and kids to win a bet. It also becomes clear that the traditional explanations are contradictory not only with each other but an orthodox understanding of the faith and the nature of God.
He wears his learning lightly and the reader does not need theological training to understand the points being made. Ehrman relates his own struggles with the predominant explanations for suffering within the Evangelical community which reflect my own experience but I suspect his story and conclusions could alienate conservative readers, snake handlers, etc.
Anyway, to cut to the chase, this book is for anyone interested in why we suffer and the serendipitous nature of suffering and is willing to have their views challenged.