God and Horrendous Suffering

This edited volume brings together prominent skeptical voices to challenge theistic responses to the problem of horrendous suffering. Loftus assembles contributions from philosophers, biblical scholars, and scientists who collectively argue that extreme forms of suffering—genocide, childhood cancer, natural disasters—render belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God rationally untenable.

The volume systematically addresses and critiques major theodicies within Christian philosophical theology. Contributors examine free will defenses, soul-making theodicies, and appeals to divine hiddenness, arguing that none adequately account for the scope and intensity of suffering observed in human history and the natural world. Several chapters focus specifically on biblical accounts of divinely commanded or permitted atrocities, contending that these texts undermine rather than support claims about divine goodness. The work engages directly with contemporary Christian philosophers like Alvin Plantinga, Richard Swinburne, and William Lane Craig, offering detailed rebuttals to their arguments.

Methodologically, the volume combines philosophical analysis with empirical data from evolutionary biology, psychology, and anthropology. Contributors argue that naturalistic explanations better account for the distribution and character of suffering than theistic frameworks. The evolutionary origins of pain, predation, and disease receive particular attention as evidence against intelligent design. Several authors employ probabilistic reasoning to argue that horrendous suffering makes theism significantly less likely than naturalism.

The collection reflects and advances the "new atheist" intellectual tradition while incorporating more rigorous philosophical argumentation than earlier popular works. Loftus positions the volume as part of his broader "Outsider Test for Faith" project, which challenges believers to evaluate their religious commitments from an external perspective. The work responds to what contributors perceive as inadequate theistic treatments of evil in recent philosophy of religion, particularly those that minimize the evidential force of extreme suffering.

The volume's significance lies in its comprehensive treatment of suffering as a defeater for theism, bringing together multiple disciplinary perspectives and engaging substantively with sophisticated philosophical defenses of belief. While primarily destructive in its aims, the work implicitly advocates for secular approaches to understanding and responding to human suffering. Its publication reflects ongoing debates within philosophy of religion about whether extreme evil constitutes decisive evidence against classical theism.