Apr 28 2008
a conversation on suffering
Here are a few links to a great conversation on suffering. The dialog partners are Bart Erhman and N.T. Wright. Erhman is a biblical scholar and former Christian who is making his living these days teaching and writing books which try to debunk or counter Christian faith. Wright is a British scholar and one of the leading voices of New Testament scholarship today. You can catch up to the conversation with the following links.
Bart Ehrman: How the Problem of Pain Ruined My Faith
N.T. Wright: God’s Plan to Rescue Us
Bart Ehrman: What About the Actual Suffering?
N.T. Wright: What it Looks Like When God Runs the World
It may raise more questions than it answers for you, but it is an important conversation and it would be hard to find two better people on whom to eavesdrop.
on the walk
-Ethan
i have only read so far the first two parts of the conversation, i am eager to read the rest but here is a thought in regard to suffering.
isn’t largely our problem to deal with? Haven’t we in our desire to run our own affairs here in the world allowed much of the suffering? and doesn’t God call us to “work for justice. Help the down and out. Stand Up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless” and we so rarely really take this seriously?
this of course does not address natural disasters that is a more complex issue to ponder.
God wants us to be like he was on Earth in the form of christ, all through history and contiuing today we are given Jesus style opportunities that we ignore.
the internet monk ( intenetmonk.com) has recently ( around May 15th) posted some words on the Biblical language of lament, that I found useful to consider in light of this discussion on suffering. it is worth reading