An amazing synthesis of answers to the question of suffering.

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	• Making Sense Out of Suffering Peter Kreeft Servant Ministries, 1986 average customer review:based on 20 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Theodicy at its best

Peter Kreeft wears two hats: 1) an professor of philosophy of religion at Boston College and 2) an extraordinary Catholic apologist. As a professor, Kreeft does not deny his bias, but probes with objectivity and impartiality. As a Catholic apologist, Kreeft is an advocate for his church and its beliefs and he presents his arguments and theories in an non-technical manner which can be easily appreciated and understood by a person who lacks formal religious or philosophical training. As a apologist he puts forth his position in an objective, non-proselytizing manner, an approach which will strengthen the beliefs and conclusions of those readers already predisposed to agree with him and give others pause even if they do not ultimately accept his conclusions.

In "Making Sense out of Suffering", Kreeft is wearing the hat of a Catholic apologist discussing and explaining what he acknowledges is the greatest obstacle to his faith. He provides a solid theological explanation to the problem of suffering, one which is consistent with traditional Catholic theology. Unlike Harold Kushner, Kreeft reaffirms all three of God's attributes: omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence. For a believer who wants to understand theodicy and square his or her faith in a theistic God with the world and personal suffering, there can be no better introduction or explanation than Kreeft's book. Even those who do not accept Kreeft's analysis and explanations will, after reading this book, at least understand "the other side."

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Making Life's Dreariest Aspect Meaningful

(4.5 *'s) Followers of Peter Kreeft's books have known for a long time now how deftly he is able to take difficult, yet lofty subject matter and make it accessible to the reader's heart and mind. In his excellent 1986 book, `Making Sense of Suffering' he again takes the most poignant and mysterious of human topics and brings some clarity and comfort to those willing to take the 184 page sojourn.

Not entirely different from Benedict Groeshel's 'Arise from Darkness,' Professor Kreeft starts out by sorting out Rabbi Kushner's `When Bad Things Happen to Good People,` and illustrates what he finds laudable and what parts he is at issue. Kreeft, a skillful alchemist, draws upon the Bible, psychology, literature, and philosophy to illustrate his points and counter arguments in a very smooth and laudable fashion. Just as an overview, some of his biggest references come from C.S. Lewis, Dostoyevski, Plato, Freud, and the Prophets. People with a cursory understanding of any of these figures should note that he paves the way of understanding for even the uninitiated.

His major premise is that life is filled with suffering. Like all mysteries there are aspects that are inscrutable, and he is at a loss to explain some of its ramifications. Aside from these necessary limitations, his work is to try and make something we find dreary and daunting into something that is meaningful and livable. His assertions and examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but they are nourishing, nevertheless.

While most of the passages are well integrated from premise to illustration, he also uses the technique of dialogue between himself and a prospective reader. The exchange while lively and blunt, sometimes makes the personified reader sound whiney, even if he (or she) does embody common concerns.

`Making Sense of Suffering' is written from the Catholic Christian perspective, but being the apologist he is, he is able to make a work that is inviting to people of a wide spectrum of faiths. Having taken the journey, I find myself refreshed with the ideas he has presented in this wise and illuminating book.

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An amazing synthesis of answers to the question of suffering.

I read Kreeft's Making Sense out of Suffering more than twenty years ago and since then have gone on to read quite a number of other books on the same thread. I must say that Kreeft's book stands as one of the best, if not the best concise one-volume popular work that brings together a variety of disciplines - novelists, poets, prophets, philosophers, scriptures - to bear on the age-old existential issue of suffering. The book carries with it the suspenseful quality of a who-dunnit, that makes it unput-downable once you embark on it. You keep racing and grasping forward as the answer gets better and better with each chapter till you come to see afresh the familiar face of the One, acquainted with sorrows and griefs and by whose stripes our wounds are healed. Kreeft is not only a wise man. He is an empathetic conversational partner. What begins as a book that engages the intellect ends with words that touch the heart deeply. It is one of those books I count in my now sizeable collection as one that has left in me a deep imprint of truths that has pointed me and keeps pointing me to the Saviour. Thank you, Professor Kreeft!

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Good info

This book really helped me during my mother's illness and subsequent death from cancer. I recommend it to anyone suffering or who knows someone who is suffering.

One bad blunder ruins a good book

Can one blunder really ruin a good book? I know it sort of seems unfair, but this one really does. It comes in chapter 6, clue 3, where Kreeft writes, "Samuel is the prophet who probably wrote many of the historical books of the Old Testament (1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and perhaps Judges.)" Those who have actually read the Bible will see immediately how ridiculous this is. (Samuel dies before 1 Samuel is over. The books of 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings deal with events over the next several hundred years.) It hurts Kreeft's credibility to the point where I can't trust anything else he says. That's too bad, because he seems to have some really strong arguments. (But I'm no philosopher, myself, so I can't say for sure. Maybe he's bluffing about his knowledge of philosophy too.)

My advice to people who haven't read the Bible and want to write books: Don't assume that you can bluff about your knowledge of the Bible. There are lots of folks - many who don't even have a high school education - who have actually read the entire book cover to cover.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

Peter Kreeft observes that our world is full of billions of normal lives which have touched by apparently pointless and random suffering. He then records the results of his own wrestling match with God as he struggles to make sense out of this pain.

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