D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil
Baker Academics, 2006, 240 pgs.
Summary: Suffering will come. For most of us grotesque and horrifying events will unfold in excruciating slowness or with the suddenness of a lightning strike. The suffering that enters our life will have a palatable weight in our hearts. It will feel as if the very ground has opened its mouth to hell; we are not yet immersed in the fire, but blasts of trauma will belch forth from the pit, and we will be shaken.
Having written so dramatically, allow me an anti-climatic suggestion. Prepare for future suffering, process past trauma, and be ready to counsel others by having a robustly biblical understanding of suffering and the problem of evil. The first step in preparation and processing is relentlessly striving to not be conformed to this world but to have your mind transformed by Scripture and the Spirit. The next step is likely to read How Long, O Lord?
The book is a clear, biblically and academically informed mediation on the problem of evil and suffering in this world. Concise, godly and covering the main philosophical and theological objections against compatibilism (God is exhaustively sovereign and man is responsible for his sin) at a thoughtful layman’s reading level.
Benefits and Detriments: The only weakness that I can find is that Carson sometimes chides at traditional theological vocabulary and distinctions—for instance in the case of the immutability and atemporality of God. He remains orthodox, but there’s a sense of irritation. My suspicion is that he sees this as being more biblical, but this requires that we then argue that Anslem, Calvin, Turretin, Shedd, Augustine, Thomas, and so forth are less biblical than Carson, and this makes me nervous. On the issue of God and time, see Augustine’s Confessions and Paul Helm’s Eternal God, and on immutability see Shedd’s Dogmatics or Calvin’s Institutes.
How Long, O Lord? is an incredibly important book for all thoughtful Christians. Please read it before the suffering comes.