Sexual Astrology - Books : God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer

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by: Bart D. Ehrman See Larger Image List Price: $25.95 Our Price: $17.13 You Save: $8.82 (34%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $4.89 Collectible Price: $25.95 Third Party New Price: $6.85 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 231.8 EAN: 9780061173974 ISBN: 0061173975 Label: HarperOne Manufacturer: HarperOne Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 304 Publication Date: March 01, 2008 Publisher: HarperOne Release Date: February 19, 2008 Sales Rank: 13407 Studio: HarperOne Related Items: Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus) Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew The Age of American Unreason The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend see more Editorial Review: Product Description: In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though, the Bible does not have one answer but many 'answers' that often contradict one another. Consider these competing explanations for suffering put forth by various biblical writers: The prophets: suffering is a punishment for sin The book of Job, which offers two different answers: suffering is a test, and you will be rewarded later for passing it; and suffering is beyond comprehension, since we are just human beings and God, after all, is God Ecclesiastes: suffering is the nature of things, so just accept it All apocalyptic texts in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament: God will eventually make right all that is wrong with the world For renowned Bible scholar Bart Ehrman, the question of why there is so much suffering in the world is more than a haunting thought. Ehrman's inability to reconcile the claims of faith with the facts of real life led the former pastor of the Princeton Baptist Church to reject Christianity. In God's Problem, Ehrman discusses his personal anguish upon discovering the Bible's contradictory explanations for suffering and invites all people of faith—or no faith—to confront their deepest questions about how God engages the world and each of us. Customer Reviews Average Rating: Rating: - Excellent reference. A year ago, I began attending a bible study class at the church I attended decades ago as a kid and teenager. In several discussions, the theodicy issue came up, and, after last February, I found myself repeatedly referring to Bart Ehrman's God's Problem in offering my contributions to the group. What Ehrman has done is to provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the variety of ways in which the biblical writers themselves dealt with the issue of suffering. The result is, in one respect, ... Read More Rating: - Complementary readings to Ehrman's interesting book There are already many good reviews to this book, so I will only suggest reading the following books on religion in addition to Ehrman's: a) "The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach," by Moojan Momen (astonishingly encyclopedic); b) "Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion" by Brian Hayden (great overview of religion origins and development); c) " The Wisdom to Doubt: A Justification of Religious Skepticism" by J. L. Schellenberg; d) "Alternative Tradition: A Study of Unbelief ... Read More Rating: - Theodicy made clear This is one of the best books I have read on the topic of God,the bible and suffering in the world. Bart Ehrman's style is extremely readable and easy to understand, an important factor for what is a difficult and complex topic. Ehrman discusses a number of classic biblical and non-biblical theodicies, confronting them head on, and does not retreat mindlessly behind Christian doctrine, the 'free will' theory or the age old catch cry 'God's workings are a mystery to us mere mortals' which are all tendencies ... Read More Rating: - Way too many errors, oversights, and fallacious arguments Despite the title and description of the book portraying it as an exposition on the biblical texts of suffering, Ehrman spends very little time actually addressing the Bible itself. When he does, he generalizes the reformed interpretations and positions as that of Christianity as a whole. Every chapter begins with a lengthy rant about great and tragic events. I agree that these are all terrible events (I empathize with them all and I myself am no stranger to suffering). However, the way in which Ehrman utilizes ... Read More Rating: - What the Bible says about evil, step-by-step I've read other works by Ehrman and this book is Ehrman at his finest. He takes the reader step-by-step through the Bible and shows how each author or set of authors explains the existence of human suffering. In the personal sections of the book, Ehrman talks about the reasons for his own doubts about the existence of God. But, contrary to some of the other reviews, Ehrman NEVER makes the narcissistic argument: "Why does God allow ME to suffer?". He takes a much bigger look at the problem and asks, ... 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