The Problem of Pain is a 1940 book by C. S. Lewis, in which he seeks to provide a Christian response to intellectual questions about suffering. The book is a theodicy, an attempt by one Christian layman to reconcile orthodox Christian belief in a loving and omnipotent God with the fact that people suffer, and is not intended to provide comfort to those actually suffering. 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Clive Staples Lewis (November 29, 1898 – November 22, 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis, was an Anglo-Irish author and scholar, born into a Protestant family in Belfast, though mostly resident in England. ... Suffering is any unwanted condition and the corresponding negative emotion. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. ... Separate articles treat Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox Judaism. ... The term God is capitalized in the English language as a proper noun when used to refer to a specific monotheistic concept of a Supreme Being. ...
The existence of suffering in a world created by a good and almighty God —; "the problem of pain" — is a fundamental theological dilemma and perhaps the most serious objection to the Christian religion.
Yet, the problem is that the perception of man's sinful condition, and hence of a real need for alteration — a thing obvious even to ancient pagans — has largely disappeared from the modern horizon, rendering the Christian call to repentance and conversion unintelligible.
We have seen that in a stable and meaningful universe a possibility of pain is inherent; and in a universe of creatures, inclined, by virtue of their fallen nature, to move away from God, evil becomes, so to speak, endemic.
The book is a theodicy, an attempt by one Christian layman to reconcile orthodoxChristian belief in a loving and omnipotent God with the fact that people suffer, and is not intended to provide comfort to those actually suffering.
Some have felt that it is useful to read it together with A Grief Observed, Lewis' reflections on his own experience of severe emotional pain.
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