Suggestion please - resource on how God can be love, all powerful and yet we still suffer.

Hi, I was wondering if someone could recommend a decent resource which discusses God's love and sovereignty against the backdrop of human suffering. ideally something that describes how God being all loving and infinitely powerful can still allow us to suffer, perhaps a thought out answer to Job

thanks

Dave

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Rodney Phillips

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine by Wayne Grudem

Keith Pang

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/829398#Comment_829398

I second Rodney's suggestion. Also Christian Theology by Millard Erickson is a great one too. 3rd edition.

Matthew C Jones

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/829403#Comment_829403

Christian Theology, 3rd ed. by Millard J. Erickson

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine by Wayne Grudem

Doc B

recommend a decent resource which discusses God's love and sovereignty

This is one of the best that is available in Logos and easy to read and understand (and is also not expensive)-

https://www.logos.com/product/383/surprised-by-suffering

Here is a reprint of the same book (I think)...don't know the difference-

https://www.logos.com/product/28063/surprised-by-suffering-the-role-of-pain-and-death-in-the-christian-life

Unfortunately, FL doesn't have much (if anything) by Ravi Zacharias, who is excellent on this and related topics. If you can find stuff by him, it will be helpful.

Most any good apologetics book will cover this topic, most plainly articulated by Hume in the 18th century. Some will be more helpful than others.

You might also wish to search in your library for the Headwords or Large Text for 'theodicy'.

HTH.

Rodney Phillips

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/829411#Comment_829411

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Suffering-Finding-Meaning-Comfort/dp/145554969X?ie=UTF8&qid=1466821064&ref_=la_B000APPDAC_1_7&s=books&sr=1-7

Everett Headley

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/829423#Comment_829423

The question you are asking about is the theological term, theodicy. Norman Geisler writes an excellent introductory work "If God, why evil?" Which is availbe in Logos.

If you follow his footnotes it will recommend other resources.

Any systematic theology will speak on this subject and I recommend a search of any journals you have.

Lonnie Spencer

While only the first part of the book deals with suffering and evil, I think Christopher Wright gives an excellent answer in "The God I Don't Understand: Reflections on Tough Questions of Faith"

https://www.logos.com/product/26740/the-god-i-dont-understand-reflections-on-tough-questions-of-faith

Jan Krohn

C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/829411#Comment_829411

Unfortunately, FL doesn't have much (if anything) by Ravi Zacharias, who is excellent on this and related topics.

Vyrso is usable in Logos and Verbum, which has Ravi Zacharias => Cries of The Heart

Searching Vyrso for Suffering => https://vyrso.com/products/search?q=suffering finds 620 results, including:

Joni Eareckson Tada => Making Sense of Suffering

One idea is filtering library for:

subject:suffer

June Hunt => Biblical Counseling Keys on Evil & Suffering...Why?

Keep Smiling [:)]

Allen Browne

Tom Wright, Evil and the Justice of God (SPCK, 2006).

He does a good job of overviewing how the narrative of Scripture addresses this topic

KJ Niblett

A good article is in the The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible.
Here is the outline of the article.

A. The Problem of Evil
1. Ancient Near Eastern discussions
2. Types of evil
B. The Responses to Evil’s Presence
1. Retributive
2. Educative
3. Probative
4. Eschatological
5. Revelational
6. Mysterious
7. Determinist
8. Substitutionary
9. Trans-generational
10. Denial
C. Functions of Theodicy
1. To remind God of the covenant
2. To keep theologians honest
Bibliography

A. The Problem of Evi

James L. Crenshaw, “Theodicy,” ed. Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2006–2009), 552.

Dave Thawley

Thanks very much for all of these suggestions, I really appreciate you all sharing these with me. I'm going to get reading (and searching and buying lol). Thank you :-)

Rob

Hi,

All loving, all powerful .. part of the issues explored in Dialectical Theology. Here's a (shameless) plug for someone who's been thinking a lot about this.

https://www.amazon.com/iGod-Rethinking-Our-Life-Story-ebook/dp/B00GUO6RCA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466857702&sr=8-1&keywords=igod

Ken Hicks

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/829481#Comment_829481

"If God, Why Evil? A New Way to Think About the Question" by Norman Geisler

https://vyrso.com/product/14017/if-god-why-evil-a-new-way-to-think-about-the-question

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/829510#Comment_829510

from https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/theodicy

Justin Gatlin

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/829542#Comment_829542

Leibniz, the discoverer of Calculus, wrote a classic Theodicy. Obviously pre-Hume, so the arguments were not in their modern form. Still worth being familiar with.

Dave Thawley

Thanks again for this, I think Ill have to get reading. so many to choose from :-)

Matthew C Jones

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/829697#Comment_829697

Anybody mention John Piper's Suffering and the Sovereignty of God ?

or Why Me?: Reasoning With God’s Sovereignty in the Midst of Suffering by Kenneth D. Moore

Mattillo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/829699#Comment_829699

Another suggestion: John MacArthur's The Power of Suffering

www.logos.com/product/335/

Justin Gatlin

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/829760#Comment_829760

Let God be God is a set of expository sermons through Job. They are essentially the same content available on RayStedman.org and are not available in Logos.