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{"id":5087,"date":"2012-09-29T09:27:05","date_gmt":"2012-09-29T13:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=5087"},"modified":"2012-09-29T09:29:31","modified_gmt":"2012-09-29T13:29:31","slug":"contra-pangloss-and-oprah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/09\/contra-pangloss-and-oprah.html","title":{"rendered":"Contra Pangloss et Oprah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I recieved a comped copy of\u00a0<\/em>Glorious Ruin<\/a> as part of the Patheos Book Club<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

This may be a matter of taste, but I thought\u00a0 Glorious\u00a0<\/em>Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free<\/em><\/a>\u00a0was too peppy for a book on the theology of suffering. \u00a0I like small, tightly focused books, and I thought returning again and again to Job was an interesting idea, but there was a weird quality of breathlessness (and too many exclamation points) throughout.<\/p>\n

The best part of the book contrasted the Theology of Glory with the Theology of the Cross. \u00a0In the former, suffering is an instrumental good (\u201cno pain, no gain\u201d) and in second the focus is on Christ with us through all things, good or bad. \u00a0Proponents of the first view (Tchividjian calls out Oprah specifically) end up sounding pretty Panglossian<\/a>. \u00a0Every privation is really just an\u00a0opportunity<\/em> in disguise! \u00a0The price of this chipper approach to theodicy is stripping their theology of any explanatory power. \u00a0Everything that happens fits their narrative equally well.<\/p>\n

And minimizing the bad means they\u2019ve watered down the good. \u00a0The ultimate goal in putting on Christ is to find the place where our restless heart should rest. \u00a0One ought to keep striving for the good, but that feeling of resistance is itself evidence that something is very rotten in the state of Denmark. \u00a0Overpraising the struggle can leave us\u00a0liking<\/em>\u00a0the feeling of exerting strength, instead of feeling a little regretful that strength was required.<\/p>\n

You have to be a very gifted writer to talk about the redemptive power of suffering without sounding glib. \u00a0And I\u2019ll bet it\u2019s a little easier to do in fiction, where you can take the reader inside and through the experience of suffering.\u00a0\u00a0Tchividjian gives a few examples from his life and the lives of his friends, but the stories are a little flat and move quickly to his gratitude for a quickly emerging lesson (Tchividjian tried\u00a0unsuccessfully\u00a0to win over a coworker and fell into resentment. \u00a0He later realized it was outside his power, as the other person saw him as competition for a\u00a0promotion. \u00a0\u201cGod had used this admittedly low-wattage situation to teach me something important\u201d). \u00a0These just-so stories sound more than a little like the Theology of Glory he rebutted well early in the book.<\/p>\n

I think it might be easiest to address theodicy either in very academic works or in fiction. \u00a0In memoir, it\u2019s hard to trust the author to both flay himself open and perform an instructive dissection. \u00a0So, ultimately, my advice is to skip this book and, off the top of my head, to maybe check out one of these instead:<\/p>\n

The Brothers Karamazov<\/a><\/em> \u2013 Fyodor Dostoevsky<\/p>\n

The Problem of Pain<\/a><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 C.S. Lewis<\/p>\n

Reflections on the Psalms<\/a><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 C.S. Lewis<\/p>\n

Mortality<\/a><\/em> \u2013 Christopher Hitchens<\/p>\n

Brideshead Revisited<\/a><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Evelyn Waugh<\/p>\n

More suggestions welcome<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"