Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
JesuiticalApril 02, 2021
Photo by Jan Huber on Unsplash

Why does an all loving God allow evil and suffering in the world? The theodicy isn’t just a problem for popes and theologians—at some point in any believers life it’s a question that seizes and stops a prayer in the throat.

Yet we try to offer inadequate answers all the time: God only gives us what we can handle. This is a test. Everything happens for a reason. Push any of these responses a bit, and the unraveling begins.

Perhaps the only real answer is in asking the questions. In poetry. In prayer. Joe Hoover, S.J., America’s poetry editor, is out with a new book O Death, Where is Thy Sting?, which is a meditation on all of this and more. In this week’s show, Zac and Ashley sit down with Joe to talk about suffering—fitting for Good Friday.

Links from the show:

Joe’s book: O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?
The Great Courses Plus (Get a month of unlimited access for free!)
Subscribe to America
Join our Patreon community.

The latest from america

Much of the story of the Second Vatican Council was first told to Americans by Xavier Rynne in The New Yorker. But who was Rynne?
James T. KeaneJune 06, 2023
In a June 1 audience with Pope Francis, Sister Laura, a leader of the church in the Amazon, spoke about “the need to advance in recognizing the diaconal service that [women] provide to the church.”
Casey StantonJune 06, 2023
cardinal matteo zuppi gestures during a meeting sitting at a table with dmytro lubinets
Pope Francis’ peace envoy to Ukraine met President Volodymyr Zelensky amid breaking news of the destruction of a critical dam that Zelensky blamed on “Russian terrorists.”
Scripture in Matthew Jesus and Caesar Coin stock photo
A Reflection for Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time, by Joe Hoover, S.J.
Joe Hoover, S.J.June 06, 2023