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

In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though, the Bible does not have one answer but many "answers" that often contradict one another. Consider these competing explanations for suffering put forth by various biblical writers:

The prophets: suffering is a punishment for sin
The book of Job, which offers two different answers: suffering is a test, and you will be rewarded later for passing it; and suffering is beyond comprehension, since we are just human beings and God, after all, is God
Ecclesiastes: suffering is the nature of things, so just accept it
All apocalyptic texts in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament: God will eventually make right all that is wrong with the world

For renowned Bible scholar Bart Ehrman, the question of why there is so much suffering in the world is more than a haunting thought. Ehrman's inability to reconcile the claims of faith with the facts of real life led the former pastor of the Princeton Baptist Church to reject Christianity.

In God's Problem, Ehrman discusses his personal anguish upon discovering the Bible's contradictory explanations for suffering and invites all people of faith--or no faith--to confront their deepest questions about how God engages the world and each of us.

Publishers Weekly

Noted religion scholar and agnostic Ehrman explores the divergent array of biblical perspectives on the essential question of suffering. Ehrman also traces his own journey from belief to doubt as he puts forth a case for why both Old and New Testament teachings fail to reconcile the concept of a loving God with the reality of human misery. L.J. Ganser, a 2005 Audie winner for Russell Shorto's The Island at the End of the World, sets an animated professorial tone that is appropriate to both the weighty nature of Ehrman's argument and the author's wry, irreverent commentary. Ironically, the musical interludes between the discs—coupled with Ehrman's extensive Scriptural readings—evoke a Sunday School vibe. Ganser gives voice to Ehrman as a thoughtful curmudgeon in the national dialogue about faith; a figure whose challenges to orthodoxy somehow manage to steer clear of the caustic polarization that characterizes much of the current culture war. Simultaneous release with the HarperOne hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 3). (Mar.)

Bart D. Ehrman is the author of more than twenty books, including the New York Times bestselling Misquoting Jesus. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and is a leading authority on the early Church and the life of Jesus. He has been featured in Time and has appeared on NBC's Dateline, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, CNN, The History Channel, major NPR shows, and other top media outlets. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.