God and the Pandemic

Author Tom Wright
Publisher SPCK £7.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9780281085118

This is a thoughtful response to the pandemic, necessarily written with speed, but also great care. Wright does not immediately take the line that it is a sign of the end times. He makes us realise that suffering is part of the human condition and that we need as Christians to lament, but above all to act, as encouraged and challenged by the parable of the sheep and the goats. By focusing on Romans 8 in particular, Wright encourages us to see how, even in the midst of this disaster, we can still find God – perhaps it is easier to find him there than we think. He analyses deeply the concept of creation groaning at its incompleteness and the need to find our purpose in God. Wright does not suggest a trite answer to Romans 8.28 that ‘all things work together for good for those who love God.’ This is a verse to struggle with. For Wright, the psalmists’ tradition of lamenting, of wrestling with God in a time of confusion, is part of faith that we should also embrace.

CAVAN WOOD

Biblical Analysis, Theodicy