Suffering and the Search for Meaning: Contemporary Responses to the Problem of Pain

by Richard Rice

Publisher:

IVP Academic

, 2014

Overview

Suffering is a philosophical problem, but it is much more. It is deeply personal. Why is this happening to me? How can I respond to friends and family in pain and loss, and to people in my care?

Richard Rice guides readers through the seven most significant theodicies—approaches that have been used to make sense of suffering in light of God’s justice or control. He considers the strengths and weaknesses of each option, while always guiding us toward greater understanding and compassion. Rice goes further by offering guidelines for constructing a personal framework for dealing practically with suffering, one that draws from philosophy, ethics, theology and real-world experience.

Intending for each of us to find a response to our suffering that is both intellectually satisfying and personally authentic, Rice provides the resources for meeting this challenge. He weaves together the theoretical side of the theodicies with personal stories of people who have experienced great suffering. While no framework can perfectly account for the problem of pain, we are left with the overarching insight that suffering never has the final word.

Key Features

• Examines the seven most significant theodicies
• Considers the strengths and weaknesses of each option
• Draws from philosophy, ethics, theology, and real-world experience

Contents

• My God, Why? The Question That Never Goes Away
• God Never Makes Mistakes: Perfect Plan Theodicy
• Let Freedom Ring: The Free Will Defense
• No Pain, No Gain: Soul Making Theodicy
• An Enemy Hath Done This: Cosmic Conflict Theodicy
• Love Makes the World Go Round: Openness of God Theodicy
• Even God Can’t Do Everything: Finite God Theodicy
• Rage Against the Dying of the Light: Protest Theodicies
• Fragments of Meaning: When Suffering Comes to You

Top Highlights

“I appreciate the confidence in the fulfillment of God’s purposes that perfect plan theodicy exhibits; the affirmation of soul making theodicy that God uses suffering for positive purposes; the insistence that suffering is not what God intended for creation that is basic to the free will defense; the dramatic portrait of good versus evil that cosmic conflict theodicy paints; the conviction of open theists that God took a risk in creating beings who were significantly free; the realization that God does not always get God’s way that finite God theodicy expresses; and the cry of outrage at innocent suffering that protest theodicy raises.” (Page 146)

“‘soul making theodicy,’ as it is often called, the value of moral growth or character development provides us with the best explanation for the presence of suffering in the world.” (Page 63)

“It is God’s will that humans be free and learn from the suffering that freedom inevitably leads to. But God does not will all the suffering that flows from our mistakes.” (Page 69)

“The free will defense assures us that we are entitled to those feelings. God never meant for us to suffer. It was not something God intended for us. Consequently, we have every right to resent it, resist it, relieve it and try to eliminate it.” (Page 48)

“This book is driven by one central question: How can ideas about suffering help those who face the experience of suffering?” (Page 10)

Praise for the Print Edition

Those who suffer know two things: that suffering calls for silence and that, eventually, it seeks to be understood. Richard Rice respects this double knowledge, honors the limits of what we can say in a crisis and humbly surveys a range of responses to suffering to help his readers speak faithfully in and of pain—their own, and others'.

—Matt Jenson, Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University

Pain and suffering are integral to human life, but never easy to understand or to deal with. Richard Rice’s Suffering and the Search for Meaning brings a new dimension to reflection on the meaning of suffering, one deeply imbued with the best theological and philosophical thinking, but also attuned to contemporary human experience. After a clear analysis of the advantages and drawbacks of six classic options, he argues for a practical theodicy that does not try to make final sense of suffering but that helps those in the midst of suffering to respond in a resourceful way that will enhance the meaning of life.

—Bernard McGinn, Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus, Divinity School, University of Chicago

Writing on the problem of suffering, Richard Rice combines a philosopher’s keen intellect with a pastoral heart to produce an incisive and helpful book. The work is clear, down to earth, and useful for those who suffer or are troubled by the fact of suffering in our world. The many illustrations from real life are illuminating, and the discussions of the various approaches to evil are fair and sensible. I recommend the book highly.

—Stephen T. Davis, Russell K. Pitzer Professor of Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College

Product Details

• Title: Suffering and the Search for Meaning: Contemporary Responses to the Problem of Pain
• Author: Richard Rice
• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2014
• Logos Release Date: 2018
• Pages: 170
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Suffering › Religious aspects--Christianity
• ISBNs: 9780830880201, 0830880208
• Resource ID: LLS:9780830880201
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-06T20:51:22Z

About Richard Rice

T. Richard Rice (1944—) is a Seventh-day Adventist theologian and author. He is a leading proponent of “open theism”, a term he invented, which describes a controversial understanding of God. As of 2007 he is professor of theology and philosophy of religion at Loma Linda University in California.