About This Book

“‘”If there is a God, and if God is good, then how can God allow suffering and injustice?’ Perhaps no other question so urgently occupies young people struggling with religious commitment. But it cannot be avoided if one is to lay claim to honest and mature Christian faith. In her superb book If God Is for Us, Gloria Schaab probes various options and offers a way forward that takes both Christian belief and the reality of suffering seriously. She does not seek to offer final ‘answers,’ which would ultimately prove inadequate, but rather to offer approaches to the question that will yield deeper insights.””

“Anyone interested in exploring the mystery of God and suffering will want to read Gloria Schaab’’s well-researched and insightful book, If God Is for Us: Christian Perspectives on God and Suffering. Schaab analyzes a wide range of experiences of suffering in the world, interspersing personal testimonies from a variety of people who have struggled to find meaning in those experiences. She expounds a rich diversity of classical and contextual theological approaches to the mystery of suffering. Rather than proposing a particular theological response, she leads her readers through an examination of these approaches in a way that enables them to grasp their meaning and assess their relevance. Schaab’’s book is a valuable resource for study of and reflection on the ever-present reality of suffering in the world.”

““Theologians and believers alike are summoned today simultaneously by the suffering of the cosmos and the suffering of multiple and diverse human individuals and communities. How to respond? In her timely volume If God Is for Us, Gloria Schaab aids us with diverse resources from throughout the Christian tradition, demonstrating that no single thought system suffices, but each can contribute to a prism of insights into the mystery of God encountered amidst suffering. At once compact and comprehensive, If God Is for Us offers a plurality of Christian perspectives in response to the plurality of suffering in our world. Schaab’’s contribution is an invaluable resource for the theology classroom, for adult study groups, and particularly for religious communities engaged in sustaining the tension between the summons of the cosmos and justice on the ground.””