You Tube Theology

Debate Question - How could a God of love and forgiveness, of tangible action and eternal hope coincide with such massively gratuitous and apparently pointless evil and suffering in the world?

Prominent public atheist Richard Dawkins contentiously calls the God of the Old Testament “the most unpleasant character in all fiction: … a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, … capriciously malevolent bully.” While no Christian would agree with such a hyperbolic statement, the God of the Old Testament has indeed been a stumbling block for many faithful folk. If the problem of evil and suffering is among the foremost intellectual challenges to belief in a benevolent God—how could a God of love and forgiveness, of tangible action and eternal hope coincide with such massively gratuitous and apparently pointless evil and suffering in the world—then the problem appears even more acutely when examining divine action and human suffering in the Old Testament. This year’s debate will feature four Christian perspectives addressing the topic, along with responses from each.

Paul Copan (PhD Marquette University) is Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He is author of numerous books, including Did God Really Command Genocide: Coming to Terms with the Justice of God (Baker Academic, 2014), A Little Book for New Philosophers: Why and How to Study the Bible (InterVarsity Press, 2016), and Loving Wisdom: A Guide to Philosophy and Faith (Eerdmans, 2020).

Paul L. Gavrilyuk (PhD Southern Methodist University) is Aquinas Chair of Theology and Philosophy at University of St. Thomas. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Dr. Gavrilyuk was one of the first scholars from the former Soviet Union to come to the United States to pursue graduate work in theology. An Orthodox theologian and historian, he specializes in Greek patristics and modern Orthodox theology. His publications include The Suffering of the Impassible God: The Dialectics of Patristic Thought (Oxford University Press, 2006) and Georges Florovsky and the Russian Religious Renaissance (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Matthew Levering (PhD Boston College) is James N. Jr. and Mary D. Perry Chair of Theology at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake. He is author and co-author of over thirty books and is currently at work on a nine-volume dogmatics, whose first three volumes have appeared, most recently Engaging the Doctrine of the Creation: Cosmos, Creatures, and the Wise and Good Creator (Baker Academic, 2017).

Dennis R. Magary (PhD University of Wisconsin) is Chair of the Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is a contributing author to the ESV Study Bible (Crossway, 2008) and co-editor of Do Historical Matters of Faith Matter: A Critical Appraisal of Modern and Postmodern Approaches to Scripture (Crossway, 2012).