God, Medicine, and Suffering

by Stanley Hauerwas

Book Overview

Why does a good and all-powerful God allow us to experience pain and suffering? According to Stanley Hauerwas, asking this question is a theological mistake. Drawing heavily on stories of ill and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802808964
• ISBN13: 9780802808967
• Release Date: December 1994
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

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The book received was exactly as described. It was delivered on time and in great shape.

A thorough analysis of a complex subject

This is a really well thought out book. Hauerwas explores suffering in its most outrageous form : child suffering. For most of life human beings can explain away suffering as a product of this or that. Child suffering is different as it provokes a different reaction in us. Instead of wanting to accept it as a course of life we become shocked and disgusted with such suffering. Maybe it has to do with the innocence of a child.. the feeling that life has been cut short. Hauerwas explores why child suffering bothers us as humans and what we should do about the place of medical treatment. I've really appreciated his exploration of modernity's (false) promises about the power of medicine. Pills, medical therapy, and other forms of medical treatment can only do so much. I saw it too often in the pharmacy I work in - people buying into the fake promises that medicine can offer a perfect life. Even though I really like this book, I am not sure if I agree with Hauerwas's conclusion about the answer or meaning in such suffering. He seems to see no fruit in trying to justify or give suffering meaning by affirming God's sovereignty. Rather he says the question of God's interaction with our suffering (especially child suffering) is poor and can only lead to problems of theodicy. Despite my uneasiness with such a response, I am glad I picked up this book. "The psalms of lament do not simply reflect our experience; they are meant to form our experience of despair. They are meant to name the silences that our suffering has created. They bring us into communion with God and with one another, communion that makes it possible to acknowledge our pain and suffering, to rage that we see no point to it, and yet our very acknowledgement of that fact makes us a people capable of living life faithfully. We are able to do so because we know that the God who has made our life possible is not a God merely of goodness and power, but the God whom we find manifested in the calling of Israel and the life, cross, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The God who calls us to service through worship is not a God who insures that our lives will not be disturbed; indeed, if we are faithful, we had better expect to experience a great deal of unrest. This may not be the God we want, but at least it is a God whose very complexity is so fascinating that our attention is captivated by the wonder of the life God has given us - a life that inlcudes pain and suffering that seem to have no point." - Stanley Hauerwas on why Christians should include the pslams of lament into their theology.

Helpful, if at times technical

This book was a great read. As someone with little knowledge of medicine, but a great interest in God's presence with the dying and suffering, this book stretched me while engaging me in interesting conversation.I do not share all the author's views on the role of medication, but I am very thankful to have read his well thought out questions and proposals.If you, or someone you know, is theologically-minded and has suffered through the loss of a child or an elderly adult, this book will help address tough questions you may have.