The Hardest Problem: God, Evil and Suffering Book Review — Preach magazine - a resource for preachers and worship leaders, putting world events into a biblical context

MAY BOOK OF THE MONTH

REVIEWER: Ray Taylor

BOOK: The Hardest Problem: God, Evil and Suffering
Author: Rupert Shortt
(Hodder & Stoughton, 2022) 129pp, hardback, RRP £14.99

It is the age-old question for believers and sceptics alike – how can there be a loving God when so much suffering and evil exists in the world? Countless writers have addressed this issue, and will do so again. Here, Rupert Shortt attempts to distil his own thinking on the subject and offers a short but comprehensive thesis on why, ultimately, Christians shouldn’t despair.

In an opening chapter, entitled ‘Harmony or Chaos?’, Shortt quotes a famous passage from atheist David Hume: ‘Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?’ Shortt then acknowledges that a neat answer cannot be given to this monumental conundrum, and proceeds to be as comprehensive yet concise and clear as possible.

I feel he doesn’t totally succeed in this. The subject certainly is a hard problem to tackle, maybe even the hardest one of all, as the title suggests. As a preacher myself, it’s probably the question I get asked the most from members of the various congregations and one on which I can now point to this book for guidance.

I don’t think this book offers a definitive answer to the problem, if there can ever be one. Shortt has a wide range of experience, as befits someone who was the Religion Editor of The Times Literary Supplement for twenty years and has written a number of books. He is a very deep thinker and widely read, bringing a philosophical and theological discernment to the subject.

His book will not appeal to the casual reader, despite its concision, because it packs a very dense punch in its short length. It repays repeated readings, in order to unpack its ideas and to fully appreciate its erudition. One reviewer calls it ‘wise, informed and immensely thoughtful’ and I would agree with that – though be prepared to take your time over its wealth of concepts and references.

Reviewer: Ray Taylor
Ray Taylor is a Messianic Jew, a Local Methodist Preacher and the chairman of the local branch of Good News for Everyone (formerly Gideons).