As the recent tsunami disaster reveals, there is widespread discussion and disagreement about God's will and suffering - especially about what is traditionally called "natural evil." In most Christian teaching, God is transcendent, "above" the suffering, "beholding" it. God may sympathize, help, empower, and save, but God isn't trapped in the midst of it like the rest of us. For people with a belief in God, the onset of suffering often throws one into an acute sense of a chasm between the divine and the human.

According to Robert Morris, a pastor, spiritual director, and a chronic sufferer from depression, the biblical picture of God is radically different from this view. God's desire is to include us as participants in the divine life - to make us "partakers of the divine nature" in all that that entails. At the heart of this invitation to participate in God's own life is God's gracious participation in our suffering.

This innovative approach to reconciling human suffering and the nature of God focuses on how to look beyond easy answers, toward God's own suffering, moving from the position of victim to victor. Morris' own experience of chronic depression is a thread throughout the book, describing how one can move from meaningless suffering to suffering in a redemptive, healing way.



Click here to listen to an interview with Robert Morris

"An Episcopal priest in New Jersey and founder of the ecumenical spirituality center Interweave, Morris (Wrestling with Grace) attempts to address the question of human suffering and God's role in it, perceiving God not as a distant witness of human suffering but as one who has shared and continues to share actively in it. As the concluding poem to Jesus put it, 'When You rose, hallowed, harrowed One,/ it was not without your scars.' Highly recommended."

Graham Christian

Library Journal

July 21, 2005

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"Steeped in spiritual wisdom and seasoned with personal experience, this fine book offers real nourishment to all who hunger for life liberated from the prison cell of suffering. With keen insight and well-tested practices, Robert Morris shows us how to fashion a new framework of meaning that sets us and the afflictions we endure securely within the victorious courage of God."

John Mogabgab, editor of Weavings

June 21, 2005

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"In a culture that believes pain is bad and should always be avoided, we need this dramatically countercultural approach. Reflecting on his own deep pain, Morris sees in the crucified Christ a courageous God who overpowers the enemy of despair by loving even at the moment of apparent defeat -- a God who is a resource rather than a rescuer."

Ward B.Ewing, Dean & President of The General Theological Seminary

June 21, 2005

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"In this brief, satisfyingly pastoral volume, Morris, an Episcopal priest, reflects homiletically on suffering and the nature of both God and humanity. Morris cites his own struggle with mental illness and the devastating stories of people to whom he has ministered to show that while God rarely makes all the pain disappear, God does bless sufferers in powerful and surprising ways."

Publishers Weekly

June 21, 2005

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