We ask “Why?” people in the Bible ask “How Long?”

Books about the problem of evil can be extremely frustrating because you know at the outset that, from a Christian point of view, the answer (if we can call it that) will involve the word “mystery.” N. T. Wright in Evil and the Justice of God says that his intention in that book is

“not so much to give answers to impossible philosophical questions as to bring signs of God’s new world to birth, on the basis of Jesus’ death and in the power of his Spirit, even in the midst of ‘the present evil age’” (p. 11).

So when I read books on this subject like N. T. Wright’s, I am not really looking for answers, but I hope that the author will help me think about the issues in a way that will help me conform my thinking to the to way the Bible thinks about them. When I read a book about the problem of evil, I hope to gain wisdom more than understanding, hope more than assurance that things will work out in this life. For I know that, sooner or later, my reflections will be tested by the hard reality of suffering or the sheer evilness of evil at a personal level. You cannot go for very long just thinking about evil and suffering without experiencing them.

I think this part of Chris Wright’s book The God I don’t Understand serves as a guide to thinking biblically about these things. That does not mean sweeping the nasty stuff under the rug; it means coping with the hard questions with the conviction that a Christian worldview is the best way for us to traverse through them.

If I were to summarize this part of the book, I would say that Wrights wants us to understand that God in His wisdom did not think it was necessary to reveal to us where evil (he makes a distinction between moral and natural) came from. This does not mean that the Bible has nothing to say about when evil first came into the world, but its origin is something it does not bother to explain. Since this raises the question about what the Bible DOES say about evil, Wright spends some time talking about the Bible’s diagnosis for moral evil which basically says that sin effected both humanity and creation and “puts the blame of suffering and evil where most of it primarily belongs, namely, on ourselves, the human race” (35). It then makes sense to talk about the devil or Satan and the fall of the angels. Although Wright spends a few pages on this aspect of evil, the conclusion is that the Bible tells us very little, so at the end our most common questions about the fall of the angels and preexisting evil go unanswered. It is simply not for us to know.
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Christopher Wright is a gifted writer. His book Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament, which I read maybe two years ago, gave me a glimpse of the type of thinker he is. He is able to restate things that you either heard before or thought you knew from a new angle and often with fresh insights. His works on Old Testament ethics, Old Testament Ethics for the People of God, and mission, The Mission of God, are on my bookshelf and I always feel guilty that I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. Many people have sung high praises of The Mission of God as an unparalleled work on a biblical theology of mission (one that takes seriously what the OT has to say about it). I also enjoy listening to Wright’s preaching at All Souls which is available for free.

It was then, with surprise and delight, that I heard that he wrote a book entitled The God I don’t Understand: Reflections on Tough Questions of Faith (there is a site dedicated to this book here). I immediately started asking questions like: what is it about God that Wright doesn’t understand? Are his tough questions of faith the same ones I have? Will he point things out that will create more tough questions for me?

The book answered these questions, specially the first one. But to get a sense of the tone of the book, it is helpful to see what is Wright’s goal in writing it.

Those who read this blog know how much I like Ecclesiastes, and I was delighted to see Wright using it to summarize his intention (it is only fitting that Qohelet would have a say in a book called The God I don’t Understand):

When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth-people getting no sleep day or night-then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. People toil to search it out, but no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it. (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17, emphasis of the author)

“Even those who claim to have final answers to the deep problems of life on the earth God created are living in some degree of delusion. They don’t really know what they claim to know. My hope is that this book will share some of the honesty and realism of Ecclesiastes while being able to affirm wider dimensions of God’s action and revelation that were not available to the author in his day” (17).

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