EVIL & SUFFERING
VIDEOS
Greg Welty, “How Do We Deal with the Problem of Evil?” (7 min.)
Summarizes the problem and explains the various reasons why God might allow some evils. But also cautions against our ability to know how they apply to specific situations.
Tim Keller, “Is Evil and Suffering a Reason Not to Believe in God?” (8 min.)
ARTICLES & PODCASTS
D. A. Carson, “Biblical-Theological Pillars Needed to Support Faithful Christian Reflection on Suffering and Evil”
Sketches biblical themes that help Christians understand how to think about evil and suffering in relation to God and the storyline of the Bible.
Greg Welty, “The Problem of Evil”
Summarizes biblical evidence that God sovereignly rules over evil, that God aims at great goods that come about by way of various evils, and that God leaves unexplained the particular goods he pursues in specific situations or how those particular goods relate to those particular evils.
William Lane Craig, “The Problem of Evil”
Addresses how Christian beliefs help us understand why evil can exist and how the reality of evil does not undermine our confidence in God’s existence. Considers the problem as an argument from logic, from probability, and from emotion.
Eleonore Stump, “The Problem and Evil of Suffering” (57 min.)
A podcast with an internationally respected philosopher who discusses how some suffering is necessary for redeeming human evil and how some suffering produces a vulnerability and openness in us that leads to our ultimate good, which is loving union with God.
BOOKS
Greg Welty, Why Is There Evil in the World (And So Much of It)? (Christian Focus, 2018).This is a book-length version of the article by Welty listed above. This is a very accessible introduction that is surprisingly comprehensive in its brevity and addresses a much wider scope of biblical revelation about God’s relationship to suffering than is usual in a philosophical book.
Timothy Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (Penguin, 2013).Compares Christian responses to evil and ways of facing and enduring suffering alongside responses of other major philosophies and religions. Also addresses the existential/emotional aspects of coping with suffering with narratives from real-life situations.
