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What are readers saying about The Problem of Pain (Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis)?
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A reader posted a review at 2009-11-05 20:12:32.
(Language: English)
 
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world" - p. 91. The problem of pain or our objection to its existence as CS Lewis emphasized, in parallel, can be summarized by the word of Epicurus, a first century philosopher, "Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to; or he cannot and does not want to. If he wants to, but he cannot, he is impotent. If he can, and does not want to, he is wicked. But, if God both can and wants to abolish evil, then how comes evil in the world?" The problem statement seem to bring a contradiction in God's attribute of Omnipotence and Love in solving the problem of pain/evil (there is a reason I use pain/evil term correspondingly) which is CS Lewis first tackled in this book. The trick question which is often brought up regarding God's omnipotence is going like this, `Can God create a stone that He can not lift?' is like asking, `Can God be a No-God or un-Godlike?' As CS Lewis put it, "This is no limit to His power. If you choose to say God can give a creature free will and at the same time withhold free will from it', you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combination of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them to other words `God can'" (p. 18). In the end, "not because His power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God". (p.18) And then came the second problem (or so it seem we make a fuss and problem about it), any consideration of the goodness of God at once threatened us with the following dilemma. "On the one hand, if God is wiser than we His judgment must differ from ours on many things, and not least on good and evil. What seems to us good may therefore not be good in His eyes, and what seems to us evil may not be evil. On the other hand, if God's moral judgment differs from ours so that our `black' may be His `white', we can mean nothing by calling Him good". (p. 28). The point is our conceptions of the Divine goodness which tend to dominate our thought though seldom expressed, are open to criticism. Or is it what we thought of God's goodness is like we want the heaven but we do not want God in it, if God comply with that demand then He is a good God. If we can come to term with....well the above terms then we can talk the problem of pain/evil reasonably and objectively (as objective as a human can be) as CS Lewis proceeded with the rest of the book. The book does not present an essay of problem of pain for practical application. It is in the realm of our mind that we perceive pain as a problem and it is in this realm CS Lewis quenching our intellectual curiosity of such perceived problem. For practical application (as in emotionally), I suggest Where is God when it Hurts? by Philip Yancey. `What are you asking God to do? To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But he has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does. - p. 130 
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A reader posted a review at 2009-10-29 09:27:16.
(Language: English)
This book addresses the cause for 'pain' in humanity and it's results. This is a very difficult read but worth it.
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A reader posted a review at 2009-10-21 15:07:30.
(Language: English)
Wow, that was taxing my English-as-a-second-language abilities. Hard to believe that it was from the same author who wrote the immensely readable Narnia books. Anyway, it was a brilliantly developed thought on a very old problem. Still relevant.
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Jess posted a review at 2009-09-24 21:39:01.
(Language: English)
I read it once... I wasn't able to comprehend it, and it deserves a second read.
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A reader posted a review at 2009-09-22 04:33:32.
(Language: English)
So incredibly elegant and brilliantly written. This is one of most faith promoting books I've ever enjoyed. I found myself tearing up a few times as C.S Lewis expounded on beliefs that I hold so dear. I was truly edified in a way I wasn't expecting. Truly a genius. I wish my own faith had writers that could explain as well as was written in this book. But perhaps since there is already one C.S Lewis another isn't needed.
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A reader posted a review at 2009-09-20 22:51:00.
(Language: English)
Again, I don't think I grasped everything he was trying to convey, but he had some undeniable insights that made a lot of sense as well
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A reader posted a review at 2009-09-13 20:11:39.
(Language: English)
Jason Klay Harrison. Review of C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001). In his 1940 book The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis addresses the age old question of pain from a Christian perspective. He begins his theodicy from the perspective of an atheist and quickly moves to pain’s answer through Jesus Christ. The purpose of The Problem of Pain is not necessarily to bring comfort to those who are currently suffering, but to “solve the intellectual problem raised by suffering” (xii). Firstly, Lewis makes known that when addressing the problem of pain, the reader should know that he has “never for one moment been in a state of mind to which even the imagination of serious pain was less than intolerable” (xi). From this, the book moves to the intellectual problem raised by the world; “If the universe is so bad, or even half so bad, how on earth did human beings ever come to attribute it to the activity of a wise and good Creator?” (3). Strategically, Lewis carries the reader from the understanding of the Numinous, to morality, and into the question of God’s omnipotence. When addressing divine omnipotence, Lewis tackles the question ‘Is anything impossible for God?’ With this, he leads the reader to the idea of the soul’s freedom and its relationship to pain. Lewis Continues his attack on pain by speaking on an issue that is most common when one speaks of freedom, ‘Is God really a good God?’ He explains how God’s “idea of ‘goodness’ differs from ours; but have no fear that, as you approach it, you will be asked simply to reverse your moral standards” (30). A strong statement no doubt, but Lewis brilliantly explains God’s goodness through the understanding of scripture and carries the reader from God’s goodness and love into human wickedness. With simple language, C. S. Lewis reveals the veil of illusion that evil has placed over humanity’s face by using eight simple considerations which he calls “the first step out of fool’s paradise and utter illusion” (52). Continuing his unveiling process, the reader is then subject to the root of evil in humanity by Lewis’s explanation of the Fall of Man. Through the Fall of Man, Lewis relates “simply that man, as a species, spoiled himself, and that good, to us in our present state, must therefore mean primarily remedial or corrective good,” thus once more proving that God’s goodness is higher than ours (85). Next, the book expounds on human pain and man’s knowledge of such: “Pain is unmasked, unmistakable evil; every man knows that something is wrong when he is being hurt” (90). As one may speculate, to have an exposé on pain the doctrine of Hell must be addressed. Using much tactics, Lewis addresses the doctrine as such: “If a game is played, it must be possible to lose it” (120). “In all discussions of Hell we should keep steadily before our eyes the possible damnation, not of our enemies nor our friends (since both these disturb the reason) but of ourselves” (131). Once more, C. S. Lewis is thorough in solving the “intellectual problem raised by suffering” when he deals with the issue of animal pain (132). This is probably one of the most sought after topics of those addressing the problem of pain. Do animals feel pain as we do? Lewis uses great analogies and insight with deconstructing animal pain. And in closing his book, Lewis writes about Heaven, because as he states “a book on suffering which says nothing of heaven, is leaving out almost the whole of one side of the account” (148). When addressing the Fall of Man, C. S. Lewis uses a similar theodicy to John Hick which was based on the Irenaean theodicy. That is, Lewis saw evolution as a fact of human history and therefore saw no contradictions between it and scripture. He states “the story in Genesis is a story (full of the deepest suggestion) about a magic apple of knowledge; but in the developed doctrine the inherent magic of the apple has quite dropped out of sight, and the story is simply one of disobedience” (66). From this view he then builds his theology of the Fall of Man. Since my theodicy is one which coincides with that of Augustine, a literal historical fall as recorded in scripture, I found this to be the only issue I disagreed with. However, other than this I found the book to very insightful. C. S. Lewis used marvelous talent in unveiling the Christian answer to the problem of pain. Through this book, I have gain a more thorough understanding of the problem of evil and pain in the world and new insights on how to address the issue. If anyone is struggling with how to deal with the intellectual problem of pain from a Christian view this would be a great start. Bibliography Lewis, C. S. The Problem of Pain. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001.
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A reader posted a review at 2009-09-12 20:06:19.
(Language: English)
Read it.
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A reader posted a review at 2009-09-12 13:41:14.
(Language: English)
a difficult read but helps us understand why God allows pain and suffering.
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A reader posted a review at 2009-08-15 21:25:06.
(Language: English)
The book addresses what may be one of the weightiest topics in normal conversation. So of course it seems to hard to grasp. The book is written with a lot of energy. I have read it thrice now and will read more times. I am glad I already read Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia since they give me a framework from which to better understand this book of Lewis'.
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