by Joshua Teggatz
“Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?” This is a question that we will face in our future ministries, or perhaps have already faced. It is also a question that I’m sure you have struggled through at various points in life, whether it’s been the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, or any other major catastrophes and disasters that are so clearly against the perfect design of God’s creation and will. Maybe this question has hit you a bit closer to home, with the grief and scars of deaths of loved ones, the burdens of illness, disease, and hardship, or the strains of broken and estranged relationships.
Regardless, this question is difficult to escape in this broken, sinful world, one that cannot be definitively answered or resolved. However, a biblical perspective on the nature, origin, and activities of sin, evil, and unjust suffering is useful in terms of hearing what God has to say regarding these characteristics of His fallen creation. In his recent book Evil and Suffering in the Bible (2020), Stephen Vicchio seeks to provide such a comprehensive, biblical perspective, analyzing and discussing how these difficult topics are brought up, discussed, and materialized in the narratives and teachings of the Scriptures. Written in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this text navigates through the entirety of the Scriptures (five chapters on the Old Testament, one chapter on the intertestamental period, and four chapters on the New Testament), showing that this question has been a question since the very beginning, from Job and his friends to the congregations Paul addresses in his epistles. In doing so, Vicchio also addresses and discusses eight major historical answers to this question of theodicy. Yet, he does not seek to provide the definitive answer, but rather simply allow the reader to see what God has to say about these issues. Thus, this book functions best as a companion piece for a Bible study.
Even if we cannot answer this distressing question for ourselves or our future parishioners, Vicchio’s text is a promising and powerful resource for garnering a comprehensive perspective of what God says about evil and suffering and how God’s people in ages past have trusted in God’s grace and mercy despite the brokenness of this world. Feel free to check it out on our “New Books” shelf in the library!