Search

The question of suffering and God is as old as humanity. Anson Laytner offers a very modern reading of this problem based on a learned knowledge of the Jewish sources and his own very personal experiences of death and of God. The whole is set in the context of the Book of Iyyov (Job). Rejecting the supernatural understanding of God, Laytner proposes an acceptance of God as a presence and force for good, together with a healthy spirituality based on our newer understanding of our place in the universe, on modern cosmology, on the apparent laws of nature, and on mutual respect for our various faith traditions. The reviewer disagrees and affirms the personalist theological language of the biblical and Jewish traditional sources. In addition, he affirms the ability, indeed the obligation, of the believer to adopt a theology and, indeed, a liturgy of protest. To keep such a theology and praxis from overwhelming those who took them seriously, he suggests that protest theology and protest liturgy have to alternate with healing theology and healing practice. In this essay, Laytner responds to the critique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an exchange of letters discussing the question of how to relate to a violent God in a positive way. Argument that God has flaws as well as strengths like people; Analogy for relating to God.