Cosmic conflict theodicy: this approach recognizes the role of the devil in directly or indirectly causing suffering.Soul-making theodicy: this approach finds meaning in how suffering changes us for the better.Free will defense: that suffering is a result of human free will used badly.Perfect plan theodicy: that all suffering is a part of God’s perfect plan.What the author does is survey seven approaches to this question that have helped Christians over time.

We try to make some sense out of suffering, or are in the position of walking along others as they make their own sense out of it. Yet few of us wish to live our lives believing it is really all senseless. At times, the numbness, or the outrage of suffering leaves one thinking no answers make sense.

Then there are the times where suffering becomes real in our lives, or for someone who we care deeply. But even for the atheist, who can only say that suffering is, there is still the profound sense of the “wrongness” of suffering and why one thinks it wrong. For the Christian or other theists, it raises the question of how we are to understand a good and powerful God allowing evil and suffering. Suffering raises profound questions for every human being. This serves both as an introduction to the subject of theodicy and provides pastoral and personal resources for responding to people in pain, including one’s own suffering. Summary: This book surveys seven different approaches to the question of why pain and suffering if there is a God.

Richard Rice (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014). Suffering and the Search for Meaning: Contemporary Responses to the Problem of Pain.

The problem of pain sparknotes