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The Problem of Pain
by
C.S. Lewis
The Problem of Pain answers the universal question, "Why would an all-loving, all-knowing God allow people to experience pain and suffering?" Master Christian apologist C.S. Lewis asserts that pain is a problem because our finite, human minds selfishly believe that pain-free lives would prove that God loves us. In truth, by asking for this, we want God to lov...more
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(first published 1940)
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Apology for the existence of pain and suffering. Lewis's comfortable, easy style speaks to me in most all of his books. This is no exception.
Memorable quotes:
"Love, in its own nature, demands the perfecting of the beloved; that the mere 'kindness' which tolerates anything except suffering in its object is, in that respect, at the opposite pole from Love. When we fall in love with a woman, do we cease to care whether she is clean or dirty, fair or foul? Do we not rath...more
Memorable quotes:
"Love, in its own nature, demands the perfecting of the beloved; that the mere 'kindness' which tolerates anything except suffering in its object is, in that respect, at the opposite pole from Love. When we fall in love with a woman, do we cease to care whether she is clean or dirty, fair or foul? Do we not rath...more
I absolutely loved this book. I laughed, I blurted out loud "HA!"s between classes and generally forgot about time and place. It's very, VERY good book. My only concern with this review is on my side; I had a goal to get through it in three days, which I did. Thus, there were some parts I read through without the attention I probably should have devoted to it. I don't usually like writing reviews where the fault is with me; but alas, here I am.
As for content, CS Lewis has, ...more
As for content, CS Lewis has, ...more
It says something that after so many years C. S. Lewis is still one of the foremost Christian apologists of our time. The Problem of Pain is a difficult question every religion has to deal with, and one which has been especially difficult for Christianity. Some religions have the luxury of explaining pain as something deserved - a result of bad behavior from a previous life, or perhaps pain and suffering are caused by a malevolent deity in opposition to a good and loving God. Christianity has...more
As usual, Lewis's book doesn't disappoint. He gives interesting Christian perspectives on suffering without resorting to trite comments of "turn the other cheek" and "if God brings you to it, He'll bring you through it". A very worthwhile read, especially for Christians and C.S. Lewis fans.
"The Problem of Pain" explains the paradox of "If God loves the world, why would He allow pain?" I won't explain much, except that (at least in Lewis' theory) pain is actually an alarm that something went wrong, in Lewis' word "God's megaphone." (that is one of the most popular of his quotes.) By the way, I wonder what a megaphone is - a cell phone with megapixel camera?
The book for me poses a paradox of "I love reading and I sense this book as an excelle...more
The book for me poses a paradox of "I love reading and I sense this book as an excelle...more
Very difficult work to follow, because of the language used. It not common english. For example, he overuses the word "numinious" which merely means "supernatural." Why use a word no one's familiar with?
Lots of word spins. The only real meat and potatoes is that sometimes Humans lock horns with God on the issue of self-sufficiency. God does everything to destroy our self-sufficiency, so we are dependent on him alone. That was the meat and potatoes I took fro...more
Lots of word spins. The only real meat and potatoes is that sometimes Humans lock horns with God on the issue of self-sufficiency. God does everything to destroy our self-sufficiency, so we are dependent on him alone. That was the meat and potatoes I took fro...more
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Most people today know C S Lewis only as the author of the Narnia Chronicles, that singular series of seven fantasy novels centred around the Lion-King Aslan, a thinly disguised representation of Jesus Christ, entering with a bang the space that Graham Greene called “the Pleasure Dome”. And closer watchers of Lewis and his heritage might also recall the 1993 film Shadowlands, loosely based on this Oxbridge Don’s relationship with and marriage to Joy Gresham, who later succumbs to bone cancer.
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Lewis misunderstands some theological implications but is very intellegent. This book was good for many things. Excellent in dealing with many of the issues surronding pain and suffering. Does a good job at describing what we sometimes misunderstand as love and good. I feel he could have even taken it further. You can definately see the beauty of his writting in this book. His discussion on the fall of man seemed very interesting and I am still pondering some of the implications of what was said...more
The Problem of Pain is, in toto, a work of theology. There is much in the way of ethics, so much in fact that it is worthy as a reference to that discipline. It broaches apologetics. But I categorize its whole as theology.
In the preface of the book, Lewis disavows erudition in his observations to follow. His Preface and “Introductory” then proceed to make modern books that do claim erudition read like grammar school compositions. Flatly, this is one of the most genuinely intellectual books I hav...more
In the preface of the book, Lewis disavows erudition in his observations to follow. His Preface and “Introductory” then proceed to make modern books that do claim erudition read like grammar school compositions. Flatly, this is one of the most genuinely intellectual books I hav...more
For a person who includes "Mere Christianity" in any list of my favorite books (most influential, most often read, etc.), I really haven't read much of C.S. Lewis's other work. I intend to remedy that, having just finished "Surprised by Joy" and, prior to that, "The Problem of Pain".
As would be expected, this book is full of brilliant insights and Lewis's trademark logic and disarming wit. Consequently, it should be read by just about everyone, although it is probab...more
As would be expected, this book is full of brilliant insights and Lewis's trademark logic and disarming wit. Consequently, it should be read by just about everyone, although it is probab...more
The book I own is actually The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics: Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, A Grief Observed, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, The Great Divorce, and The Abolition of Man. I've been working my way through them in order and The Problem of Pain came up at a most appropriate time. C.S. Lewis tackles the question of why a powerful loving God would allow pain and suffering. This wasn't an easy read; at times I found it hard to follow his reasoning and the reference...more
One of a pair from the same time. This issue is at the centre of all debates about an omnipotent, omniscient and apparently also a loving God who allows such things to happen, and it's also examined by Lewis personally in his book A Grief Observed, on losing his beloved wife to cancer. My own pain has been as nothing compared to what others have experienced, but real to me nonetheless. On the one hand you think it's all meaningless chance, on the other that this transforming power to the good mi...more
I first read this book during a time when my kids were very young, and I was struggling in my marriage, my purpose in life, etc. I can't even remember how my shabby copy got into my hands but I'm thankful to whoever gave it to me.
I don't have a love/hate thing going on with C.S. Lewis. Mine is more like a love/confusion thing. Because while I love some of his stuff, there are many times I'm reading and I just have to scratch my head and say, "Huh???" and attempt to re-read...more
I don't have a love/hate thing going on with C.S. Lewis. Mine is more like a love/confusion thing. Because while I love some of his stuff, there are many times I'm reading and I just have to scratch my head and say, "Huh???" and attempt to re-read...more
I find that I'm not much of a philosophical kind of gal although that does not keep me from trying to understand those that philosophize. Lewis makes some interesting points however I have to admit, I found myself lost in his seemingly stream of consciousness writing. I suppose it is my own ignorance and lack of reading since I was not familiar with the majority of his intellectual references. I came away from this reading thinking, "boy, I need to read more".
Basically L...more
Basically L...more
It has been a while since I have had a book challenge me both intellectually and spiritually. I had never read outside the Narnia Chronicles before this book, but now I am looking forward to exploring all of Lewis' works.
The language is thick and elevated, completely a different level than his fiction. The ideas and concepts are advanced for me, I caught myself imagining alternate realities like those in some of my science fiction novels because of the existential and metaphysical concepts ...more
The language is thick and elevated, completely a different level than his fiction. The ideas and concepts are advanced for me, I caught myself imagining alternate realities like those in some of my science fiction novels because of the existential and metaphysical concepts ...more
This was not quite what I was expecting. Lewis made that clear in his introduction, so I was aware once I started to read that I was getting something else. I was expecting a treatise on methods of coping with pain - emotional, physical, acute, chronic - with some reference to Christianity as Lewis was a Christian and wrote from that standpoint.
This is a book that seeks to answer the question as to why pain exists, given the Christian notion of an all-powerful god that is goodness pers...more
This is a book that seeks to answer the question as to why pain exists, given the Christian notion of an all-powerful god that is goodness pers...more
Horrible book. It's never a good idea to preface a book saying, "I didn't want to write this under my own name, but the publisher made me." I basically started reading the book thinking, "wow, he didn't even want to write this book, how can he make a good argument?" I'm not sure if there are any good ideas about why god has a plan for pain, but the evolutionary argument for it works just fine for me. To summarize the entire book, the real problem of pain was reading this ...more
It was interesting to read this right after Lewis's Great Divorce. It's a much heavier, meatier book than the GD, though it touches on some of the same ideas. And it's weird to call a book under 200 pages heavy or meaty. But nonetheless, there was a lot to mentally chew here, and that was a good thing.
In this book, Lewis addresses the problem of pain: "If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if god were almighty He would be able to do what H...more
In this book, Lewis addresses the problem of pain: "If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if god were almighty He would be able to do what H...more
Lewis addresses the problem of pain, which he describes in this way: "If God were good, He would make His creatures perfectly happy, and if He were almighty, He would be able to do what he wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power, or both."
As a Christian, I've often wondered about this issue, especially when friends are diagnosed with cancer or the country suffers terrorist attacks. It's a difficult question, and although I acce...more
As a Christian, I've often wondered about this issue, especially when friends are diagnosed with cancer or the country suffers terrorist attacks. It's a difficult question, and although I acce...more
Much of this book is good but sort of nondescript for how good Lewis can be. With that said, let me note that my church has a list of "fifty books and essays the high schooler should read before graduation" and that Lewis' "Weight of Glory" and "The Inner Ring" are both on that list. I'm happy with both of these things. Now. I feel like, if there was a "hundred extra-biblical books and essays a Christian should read," the last chapter of The Problem of Pai...more
This is the fourth book of C.S. Lewis' series about his personal philosophy on the religion of Christianity (and the second since the first, Mere Christiantiy, that has zero plot steeped in the landscape of fiction), and so far, it's the weakest.
This book really showed me what I think of Lewis' style and prose. While he touts his straight Christian lit as being a layman's guide to the faith, it seems at times that he dumbs down his language to the paradoxical point of being verbose and...more
This book really showed me what I think of Lewis' style and prose. While he touts his straight Christian lit as being a layman's guide to the faith, it seems at times that he dumbs down his language to the paradoxical point of being verbose and...more
Solid Lewis I guess. But there are a lot of questions and musings related to the problem of evil that remain unanswered--and perhaps they forever will be. For instance, the whole "free-will" solution is very insufficient for me. Probably most of my thoughts on this issue revolve around this vane, which, perhaps, I'm to uneducated on and that is why I'm at an impasse. Here's an example: There is a perfect loving relationship between the members of the trinity (to each other) and betwe...more
I am a 'fan' of C.S. Lewis and have been for many years. I'm an avowed admirer of his scholarship, wit, and warmth. This one is probably my favorite thus far of his 'scholarly' works, as Lewis presents the problem of pain and suffering with equal parts compassion and scholarship. I can't possibly do justice to Lewis' book, short in length and long on depth and analysis, except to say that it's a thought-provoking Christian answer to the meaning of suffering. In the end, we suffer because we ...more
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The first few chapters were very well written and argued and I caught myself thinking "Ohhh I didn't think of that" it was very logical. Towards later part of the book, I begin to lose attention, but i think a huge part of that was due to me not being familiar with Christian literature. There were bits and pieces of analogies which I thought was sexist ( eg on page 38 "I mean, the analogy between God's love for man and a man's love for woman... When we fall in love with a woman, d...more
(Note--this book really hangs somewhere on the under-side of three stars for me. Also, this review is written from an orthodox Christian standpoint--I'm not qualified to offer any other.)
"If God is good, why does he cause or allow us to experience painful circumstances? Perhaps he is not good. Or, perhaps he just isn't powerful enough to protect his creatures from pain." These are the difficult questions, natural to many of us, that C.S. Lewis attempts to address in this book...more
"If God is good, why does he cause or allow us to experience painful circumstances? Perhaps he is not good. Or, perhaps he just isn't powerful enough to protect his creatures from pain." These are the difficult questions, natural to many of us, that C.S. Lewis attempts to address in this book...more
I have yet to be disappointed by a C.S. Lewis book. Here, Lewis deals mainly with the problem of human suffering and how it's existence doesn't necessarily disprove the existence of a loving God. Needless to say, Lewis opens himself up to no small amount of backlash from people who would charge that he, having been a hugely successful writer and Oxford professor, knew very little of pain. He does his best to deal with these types of charges throughout the book, and whether or not he succeeds is ...more
Stephen C.
rated it
Recommends it for:
anyone whoe doubts the validity of Christianity from an intellectual perspective.
Probably the most profound work on the intellectual aspects of our Christian faith. How anyone would read this and not understand the "intellectual" aspects of faith is beyond me. I suppose it happens, but it is most liely that they do not have the ability to stay with Lewis' logic and clarity on the subjet.
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Clive Staples "Jack" Lewis was an Irish writer and scholar. Lewis is known for his work on medieval literature, Christian apologetics, literary criticism, and fiction. He is best known today in secular culture for his series Chronicles of Narnia.
Lewis taught as a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford from 1925 to 1954, and later was the first Professor of Medieval and Renaissanc...more
More about C.S. Lewis...
Lewis taught as a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford from 1925 to 1954, and later was the first Professor of Medieval and Renaissanc...more
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“A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.”
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“The mold in which a key is made would be a strange thing, if you had never seen a key: and the key itself a strange thing if you had never seen a lock. Your soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contours of the divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions.
Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it -- made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand.”
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Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it -- made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand.”
