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
I second Rodney's suggestion. Also Christian Theology by Millard Erickson is a great one too. 3rd edition.
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Christian Theology, 3rd ed. by Millard J. Erickson
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine by Wayne Grudem
Logos 7 Collectors Edition
Dave Thawley: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.
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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
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.
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
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.
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Doc B: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?
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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
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.
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 :-)
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
"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
from https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/theodicy
Orthodox Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."
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.
Thanks again for this, I think Ill have to get reading. so many to choose from :-)
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
Another suggestion: John MacArthur's The Power of Suffering
www.logos.com/product/335/