272 Reviews
spiritual traditions which would claim them as Fathers. But, of course,
this is really only praise disguised as criticism. In fact, I think that
ultimately Limberis is able here to point out what would be a fruitful
direction of research – disengaging the ideals of Cappadocian martyr
piety from their historical situation and translating them into our
own, thus setting up the continuity of tradition as can only be done
through great historical awareness. What Limberis’ book opens up
in, I think, sophisticated, nuanced, and astonishingly practical ways,
is the hermeneutical work so necessary for traditions who would
now claim martyrdom, let alone the early Christian martyrs, as their
inheritance.
Jonathan Zecher
University of Houston
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What Shall We Say? Evil, Suffering, and the Crisis of Faith, Thomas
G. Long, Eerdmans, 2011 (ISBN 978-0-8028-6514-4), xiv + 158 pp., $25
How is it possible for evil and suffering to occur on a massive scale
affecting innocent people if, as Christians maintain, the world is actu-
ally under the control of a good, caring, and all-powerful God? Philoso-
phers and theologians refer to this enigma as the theodicy problem.
Theodicy has the task of defending or justifying the actions of a good
God in a world where innocent suffering is absurdly out of proportion
to any sense of fairness.
It is one thing for philosophers and theologians to debate the issue in
the sterile ivory towers of academia. But, what do preachers say to their
churches on the Sundays following senseless tragedies and natural
disasters? Thomas G. Long’s book is ‘a work of homiletical pastoral
care’ (p. xiii) with sage advice ‘about what preachers can and should say
regarding the theodicy problem’ (p. xii).
Long understands, however, that what preachers say must be mean-
ingful and expressed with compassion. In Chapter 1, he describes the
complexities of contemporary theodicy by reference to a pivotal event
which took place in Lisbon, Portugal, All Saints Day, November 1,
1755. With most of the city’s 250,000 residents in church, a massive
earthquake struck the city at 9:30 a.m. followed shortly by a second,
stronger shock wave. As a third shock wave consumed the city, resi-
dents made their way to the harbor hoping to escape the devastation
only to be inundated by a tsunami. Long argues that prior to Lisbon,
disasters were considered divine actions imposed on people because
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Reviews 273
of their sin; but, Lisbon was ‘the first disaster of worldwide proportion
that could not be neatly fit into the accepted idea of divine causality’
(p. 7).
With Lisbon as a foundation, Long turns in Chapter 2 to ‘The Impos-
sible Chess Match’, a ‘theological stalemate’ (p. 25) owing to a philo-
sophical collision among four traditional truth claims: there is a God,
God is all-powerful, God is good and loving, and there is innocent
suffering in the world. Essentially, the only plausible option for reach-
ing a solution to the theodicy problem is to jettison one of the truths;
but, which one?
Before reviewing the legacy of the theodicy problem, Long issues
two warnings in Chapter 3. The first warning focuses on timing: ‘Some
aspects of the gospel await the proper moment to be spoken’ (p. 44). In
the second warning, Long argues that the God of the impossible chess
match is not the God of Jesus Christ, but rather a philosophical con-
struct (p. 49) ‘stacked . . . toward the elimination of the claim “There is
a God,” [and] toward atheism’ (p. 52).
In Chapter 4, Long evaluates what others have proposed about the
problem of theodicy. He dismisses Rabbi Harold Kushner’s explanation
in his personal and popular book, When Bad Things Happen to Good
People, primarily because Kushner’s God is so feeble that He simply
cannot stop the suffering (p. 65). Process thinkers such as John Cobb
and David Ray Griffin involve God in the human story; but, like Kush-
ner’s God, He is powerless to do more than ‘persuade the world toward
the best available option’ (p. 74). Augustine’s Free Will model places the
cause of evil and suffering on the abuse of ‘the free will and rebellion of
God’s creatures’ (p. 76). Finally, Long investigates the Irenaean Soul-
making model as described in John Hick’s book, Evil and the God of Love.
For Hick, the world as it exists – its jaggedness and its joys – is the
world that God created in order to toughen and drive people toward
Him.
For Long, each of the models is deficient and each of the traditional
truth claims must undergo ‘modification and re-description’ (p. 87) as
articulated by the Christian gospel. Particularly interesting is Long’s
reclassification of some ‘innocent’ suffering as ‘tragic’, but ‘thoroughly
consistent with what human life, in fact, is’ (p. 91).
No consideration of the problem of theodicy would be complete,
however, without reflection on the plight of Job. Long suggests that the
suffering of Job raises the crucial question of theodicy: ‘How do we live
when our experience causes our theological universe to collapse?’ (p.
101). He proposes that human beings must abandon their own pseudo-
divine efforts at defining a moral scheme of order through which they
evaluate unjust suffering and, instead, ‘move toward being the kind of
human being who, even in the midst of inexplicable pain, trusts the One
who is God . . .’ (p. 109).
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
274 Reviews
Finally, Long offers his own reasoned effort to describe what
preachers may say to parishioners questing for answers to the theodicy
problem. Long employs Jesus’ Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds
(Matt. 13), casting it as a ‘pastoral conversation about the presence of
evil and good mixed together in the world’ (p. 125). The presence of
weeds (evil) among the wheat (good) in the field raises three questions
which impinge on the theodicy problem:
1. ‘God, did you cause this?’ For Long, the question is a ‘theodicy of
protest’ (p. 125) prayerfully implanted in an act of faith seeking
understanding. The parable declares the good news that the weeds
(evil) were caused not by God, but by God’s enemy.
2. ‘Can we fix it?’ Long’s answer, predicated on God’s response, is no. It
is not because God is powerless to do so or chooses not to do so, but
because the intervention suggested by the parable’s characters
amounts to a nescient human resolution that ‘would not be true to
God’s own character’ (p. 141).
3. ‘Will it always be this way?’ Long insists that the parable ‘contains an
eschatological vision that the loving power of God will finally
destroy all evil’ (p. 144). Paradoxically, the love of God validated in
the apparent weakness of the cross ‘ends up victorious and ulti-
mately destroys the power of evil’ (p. 145).
Long has much to offer preachers struggling with what to say about
evil and suffering. He is, above all, a seasoned pastor and preacher
with exceptional credentials and experience for such a volume. He
approaches the topic humbly, curiously, and theologically and cites
plentiful resources from which preachers’ understandings of theodicy
may mature.
Long is a focused and sensitive scholar, and his analysis of the theod-
icy problem is particularly acute. While some will disagree with the
Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds as a ‘map for the journey’ toward
addressing the theodicy problem, he nevertheless advances a position
that is both intriguing and reasonable.
Ironically, one of the shortcomings in the book is that Long’s analysis
of Jesus’ parable repeatedly defers to mystery. While true, it is some-
what droll that an otherwise comprehensive assessment of the position
of others concludes in epistemological humility. Beyond this, one is left
to speculate how well the pastoral principles Long recommends would
function for a preacher personally experiencing heartache and loss.
Propositionally, they are splendid; emotionally, it will take time before
a preacher could incorporate them into a meaningful message. Clearly,
detachment from a tragedy is a homiletical advantage.
Long’s contribution to contemporary theodicy is hard to overvalue.
Preachers will gain the most benefit; but, theologians, philosophers of
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Reviews 275
religion, and questing parishioners will find profound and sharply
concentrated reflection on the contemporary theodicy problem.
Ben D. Craver
Wayland Baptist University
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New Testament Greek: An Introduction, B. H. McLean, Cambridge
University Press, 2011 (ISBN 978-0-521-17702-3), x + 266 pp., pb £19.99
It is sometimes said that the number of New Testament Greek gram-
mars exceeds the number of New Testament Greek teachers. Thus, any
new introductory grammar requires some justification. Bradley H.
McLean, Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Knox
College, University of Toronto, has written a New Testament Introduc-
tion that is likely distinctive enough to be justified but may not be as
distinctive as some may want.
The basic approach of the grammar is fairly standard. Grammatical
concepts are introduced and then a table of the relevant forms is
given. The discussions of grammatical concepts are clear, succinct,
and for the most part helpful. In general I found the grammar easy
to read and interact with. However, examples of the uses of the gram-
matical concepts under discussion in actual sentences and texts are
rarely given. These are saved for the workbook (on which see below).
The order in which different elements of Greek grammar are intro-
duced are logical. The emphasis appears to be on giving students
enough grammar to begin reading Greek sentences as soon as possible,
while still treating similar subjects together. Thus, for example, follow-
ing the introductory chapters on the alphabet (Chapter 1) and
pronunciation/accentuation (Chapter 2), the related subjects of the
Present Active Indicative and Future Active Indicative and Present
Active Indicative of ei mí are introduced (Chapter 3), followed by con-
tract and liquid verbs (Chapter 4). The student is thus introduced to
verbs and learns the related forms of the Present and Future Active
Indicative before turning to chapters on the second (Chapter 5) and first
(Chapter 6) declensions. By lesson six students have been introduced to
basic verbs and nouns so that they can begin translating sentences.
Thus, beginning in lesson 6 the workbook the student starts work on
the first six chapters of the Greek text of the Gospel of John. Perhaps the
biggest oddity in the order of grammatical elements treated is the fact
that the infinitive and the imperative are not introduced until the final
two chapters.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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