God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--why We Suffer

New
Paperback
2009
$20.59

Just as with Misquoting Jesus where Ehrman revealed how the corruption of scripture by scribes caused him to reject his once-conservative Christian beliefs, in God's Problem Ehrman will discuss for the first time his personal anguish when he discovered the Bible's incoherent explanations for suffering and how that caused him to lose his faith altogether.In a fresh departure from Ehrman's recent focus on the New Testament, he expands his research to include much of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) in God's Problem and reveal the core responses to suffering proposed by the different biblical writers. The prophets: suffering is a punishment for sin; Job (two different answers): suffering is a test, for which you'll later be rewarded for passing; and that suffering is beyond comprehension, since we're just peons and God, after all, is GOD); Ecclesiastes : it's just the nature of things, so suck it up; and, all apocalyptic texts ( Daniel , plus the Apostle Paul's letters and the book of Revelation in the New Testament): God will eventually make right all that is wrong.

Synopsis

Just as with "Misquoting Jesus" where Ehrman revealed how the corruption of scripture by scribes caused him to reject his once-conservative Christian beliefs, in "God's Problem" Ehrman will discuss for the first time his personal anguish when he discovered the Bible's incoherent explanations for suffering and how that caused him to lose his faith altogether.In a fresh departure from Ehrman's recent focus on the New Testament, he expands his research to include much of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) in "God's Problem" and reveal the core responses to suffering proposed by the different biblical writers. The prophets: suffering is a punishment for sin; Job (two different answers): suffering is a test, for which you'll later be rewarded for passing; and that suffering is beyond comprehension, since we're just peons and God, after all, is GOD); "Ecclesiastes": it's just the nature of things, so suck it up; and, all apocalyptic texts ("Daniel", plus the Apostle Paul's letters and the book of "Revelation" in the New Testament): God will eventually make right all that is wrong.

$20.59

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20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: HarperOne
Published: 15 Mar 2009
ISBN 10: 0061173924
ISBN 13: 9780061173929

Media Reviews

Ehrman's clarity, simplicity, and congeniality help make this a superb introduction to its subject. -- Booklist
Ehrman, a prolific and popular author, has put his journey into words in a new book God's Problem. ...Ehrman actually ends God's Problem on an upbeat note, a kind of call to arms for people to be good--to themselves and to others... -- San Diego Tribune
[An] entrapped invocation of a God who is not believed in, but is nonetheless despised, is what gives the book a rough power. ...[Ehrman] is a lucid expositor... -- The New Yorker

Author Bio

Bart D. Ehrman is one of the most renowned and controversial Bible scholars in the world today. He is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and is the author of more than twenty books, including the New York Times bestsellers How Jesus Became God; Misquoting Jesus; God's Problem; Jesus, Interrupted; and Forged. He has appeared on Dateline NBC, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, CNN, History, and top NPR programs, as well as been featured in TIME, the New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and other publications. He lives in Durham, North Carolina. Visit the author online at www.bartdehrman.com.