⇒ PDF Free God Problem How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important QuestionWhy We Suffer Bart D Ehrman 9780061173974 Books

God Problem How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important QuestionWhy We Suffer Bart D Ehrman 9780061173974 Books

Download As PDF : God Problem How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important QuestionWhy We Suffer Bart D Ehrman 9780061173974 Books

God Problem How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important QuestionWhy We Suffer Bart D Ehrman 9780061173974 Books

I'm enjoying reading this book (for a class I'm taking), but I have several issues with it. First, I think the title is mis-leading at best. "How the Bible Fails to Answer...." but then the book goes on at great length (as it should) about the answers the Bible does provide. The issue isn't that the Bible doesn't answer the problem, it's that Ehrman doesn't particularly LIKE the answers it offers.

I also found myself noting, throughout the book, instances where the author makes some blanket statements of the type that he disdains in other authors and writers, without any further breakdown, scholarship, or even justification for the remarks. In addition, after discussing several Biblical "answers" for the problem of suffering - and skewering them all with detailed analysis which included when the individual books involved were written, in what context, why biblical scholarship finds their roots problematic, etc, etc - he then presents Ecclesiastes as the only acceptable answer to the problem of suffering...and gives that book a virtual free ride - no textual criticism, nothing about the history of the book, the presumed authors, any problems with the viewpoint - it's like Ehrman agrees with this viewpoint so he feels no need to apply any real scholarship to it?

I actually enjoy reading books by individuals who have landed on one extreme end or the other of the religious continuum, and I don't have a real issue with either end. But if you exist on one end quit claiming you live in the middle. I've read other items by Ehrman and seen several of his video lectures, and he claims to be agnostic but his teaching, thoughts, lectures make it very clear he is actually atheist. Which, again, is fine if that's where he is - I just don't get the hair splitting of claiming otherwise. Maybe because it would too deeply offend his readers? I don't know.

Overall, though, this is a very readable book - if you've never really had a basic introduction to Theodicy this is a fantastic first read. He presents all of the major "answers" on the topic that have been offered across time, does a good job tracing them historically and putting them into context. Just don't make this the ONLY book you read on the topic, there is much scholarly work on the issue out there and while this is a good foundation/intro text it is not the definitive text.


Tags : God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer [Bart D. Ehrman] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though,Bart D. Ehrman,God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer,HarperOne,0061173975,Biblical Criticism & Interpretation - General,Faith,Suffering;Biblical teaching.,Biblical teaching,Christian Theology - General,General Adult,HISTORY General,InspirationalDevotional,Non-Fiction,PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION,Philosophy,RELIGION Biblical Criticism & Interpretation General,RELIGION Faith,RELIGION General,RELIGION Spirituality,RELIGIOUS,Religion,Religion - Theology,ReligionEthics,Suffering,United States

God Problem How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important QuestionWhy We Suffer Bart D Ehrman 9780061173974 Books Reviews

Ehrman is a former minister, Bible scholar and lecturer, who has become a non-believer (although he still goes to church with his wife on occasion). He has written an amazingly understandable study of the Bible that shows how it fails to answer the question "Why does God allow horrible pain and suffering in this world". In less than 280 pages, he manages to bring out all of the answers that the Bible (old and new testament) writers have for human suffering and show how each and every one is lacking in sensibleness; they may have made sense when they were written, but after 2000 years and more of history they don't hold up any more to an argument. This book is an excellent source for explaining a lot of the Bible, he has cleared up a lot of questions that I had previously.

Ehrman left the ministry because in teaching Bible classes, he could not answer the question of why a child dies every 5 seconds in the world from hunger (half of the world has too much food), every 20 seconds from bad water (just make it rain), every 30 seconds from malaria (why would God create mosquitoes?). He also could not explain all of the deaths from violence, neglect and 'acts of God' (hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones, floods, storms, earthquakes, fires, etc.) and make sense of there being a "loving, all-powerful God".

I'm only confused with the authors' beliefs; he is trying to ride the fence (agnostic) with not believing that an "all-powerful, loving God" would allow such terrible things to happen to innocent people, and at the same time leaving a slight "we are just not capable of understanding God's intentions", maybe. On the other hand, he does profess to love Ecclesiastes book in the Bible, which believes that there is no justice in the world and no afterlife "eat, drink and be merry--when you die it is all over". To me, Ecclesiastes was written by an atheist, or the author was at a minimum somebody who believed that "God" takes no interest in people's lives and that there is no "soul" that continues on to "heaven", "hell", or reincarnation after the body dies.

It is true, thou, that because the author leaves a side door open for a 'God' that is disengaged or maybe indecipherable to the human mind, he keeps his options open, appealing to all beliefs, reporting all sides, very enlightening; no Christian, Jew, Muslim, agnostic, or atheist should be offended.
I'm enjoying reading this book (for a class I'm taking), but I have several issues with it. First, I think the title is mis-leading at best. "How the Bible Fails to Answer...." but then the book goes on at great length (as it should) about the answers the Bible does provide. The issue isn't that the Bible doesn't answer the problem, it's that Ehrman doesn't particularly LIKE the answers it offers.

I also found myself noting, throughout the book, instances where the author makes some blanket statements of the type that he disdains in other authors and writers, without any further breakdown, scholarship, or even justification for the remarks. In addition, after discussing several Biblical "answers" for the problem of suffering - and skewering them all with detailed analysis which included when the individual books involved were written, in what context, why biblical scholarship finds their roots problematic, etc, etc - he then presents Ecclesiastes as the only acceptable answer to the problem of suffering...and gives that book a virtual free ride - no textual criticism, nothing about the history of the book, the presumed authors, any problems with the viewpoint - it's like Ehrman agrees with this viewpoint so he feels no need to apply any real scholarship to it?

I actually enjoy reading books by individuals who have landed on one extreme end or the other of the religious continuum, and I don't have a real issue with either end. But if you exist on one end quit claiming you live in the middle. I've read other items by Ehrman and seen several of his video lectures, and he claims to be agnostic but his teaching, thoughts, lectures make it very clear he is actually atheist. Which, again, is fine if that's where he is - I just don't get the hair splitting of claiming otherwise. Maybe because it would too deeply offend his readers? I don't know.

Overall, though, this is a very readable book - if you've never really had a basic introduction to Theodicy this is a fantastic first read. He presents all of the major "answers" on the topic that have been offered across time, does a good job tracing them historically and putting them into context. Just don't make this the ONLY book you read on the topic, there is much scholarly work on the issue out there and while this is a good foundation/intro text it is not the definitive text.