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God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer
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Average Rating:  out of 114 Reviews
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Price: $25.95
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Sale: $9.95
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Manufacturer: HarperOne
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780061173974
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Hardcover
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Author: Bart D. Ehrman
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Publisher: HarperOne
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Dewey Decimal Number: 231.8
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Publication Date: 2008-03-01
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Reading Level: 304
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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.
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: Nicely done, well worth the read |
Date: 2008-12-29 |
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Details: This is a nicely done book that I've found interesting in so many ways. While some may complain that some of the points are discussed ad nauseum, I've found a way around that -- I just skip through the stuff that seems to be repetitious by reading only the first sentences in the those paragraphs, until I get to new material. For example, being familiar with the story of Job and the issue of the two authors, I didn't feel a need to dissect the poetic part of Job and so I just skipped right on through. Very easy.
What I discovered while reading of Ehrman's own journey to agnosticism, is that while I am neither agnostic nor atheist, the god that is described in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament is not a god that I care to relate to. I believe that there is a greater being, perhaps best described as the spark of "something" that allows us to know the difference between the living and the not-living, and which (not "who") may have lit the spark that became the Big Bang to get the whole universe going, but I don't believe that this greater being is actively involved in every day human (or other) affairs.
There is far too much suffering and injustice for me to ever again accept the notion of a "personal god" that answers my prayers due solely to the almost random bestowing of grace, yet ignores the far more fervent -- and righteous -- cries of others who are in much more dire straits than I.
(Some might insist that the apparent randomness of grace is just one of those mysteries that we can never understand about this god. My response to that is B.S. -- if this god so wants a personal relationship, as many believe, then it has to BE personal, and not random. Yet I see only the randomness of who lives, who dies, who is saved from disaster, who isn't, who is cured, who isn't... Nothing personal about it.)
Mr. Ehrman's book helped me to put into perspective those things about the collective Bible that always nagged, just below the surface, but I didn't have the training -- and my teachers certainly didn't have the agenda! -- to fully understand just what was wrong about what I was reading.
Highly recommend this book. It will not convert you either way, which is good since I don't think that's the intent. But it may make you think. Even better.
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Review Summary: God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer |
Date: 2008-12-14 |
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Details: This is a must read book. It is powerful in its questions and bold in its answers. These are questions we all ask ourselves, whether we want to admit it or not. Ehrman has the courage to ask these questions with such clarity and good will. I was challenged and moved by this book. |
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Review Summary: Must have, if you are open to other view points... |
Date: 2008-11-25 |
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Details: Whether you're an agnostic, atheist, student of comparative studies or follower of any faith, if you have an open mind to consider all other view points, then this book certainly raises your respect for explanation as an art. The author definitely comes across as being sincere, and is certainly informed by his own scholarship and immersion in faith as a former pastor. I wish every religion had such an insightful inquiry, as this work. This book is all about reconciling your experiences in life (w.r.t suffering) with the claims and belief of faith(s). For any one wondering about God in relation to Suffering in life, this is a must have in your library. May be 50 or 100 years from now, people may have a different notion of God and religion, but until then... |
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Review Summary: Scholarly and well written |
Date: 2008-11-25 |
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Details: Professor Bart Ehrman has written a very understandable and thoughtful book based on his years of studying the Bible, other religious writings, and history.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to everyone who is curious about the Bible and thinks about an all powerful god. |
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Review Summary: Excellent reference. |
Date: 2008-11-17 |
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Details: 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, a reference tool of tremendous importance and a starting point for any informed discussion of this complex theological issue. |
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