Wandering God

Presents an analysis of the "nomadic" consciousness of our ancestors, and the forces --religious and political --that overwhelmed it during the Neolithic era, and considers its revival in the twentieth century.

Outreach Resource of the Year Is it wrong to doubt? Many Christians assume that doubt is faith's opposite and that wandering among the hard questions of faith will lead us further and further away from God. True believers, the assumption goes, never waver in their confidence in the fundamental truths of the Christian faith. Professor and philosopher Travis Dickinson disagrees. Instead, he says, our doubts and hard questions about the faith are actually an important way we can express our commitment and love to God. Doubt isn't our destination but it's an important step on the way. It's possible to wander toward God as we ask our questions honestly, in faith and trust. As we do, we'll discover the truth, goodness, and beauty of God waiting for us.

"Examining the act of wandering through many lenses, Wandering in Ancient Greek Culture addresses questions such as: Why did the Greeks associate the figure of the wanderer with the condition of exile? How was the expansion of the world under Rome reflected in the connotations of wandering? Does a person learn by wandering, or is wandering a deviation from the truth? In the end, this matchless volume shows how the transformations that affected the figure of the wanderer coincided with new perceptions of the world and of travel, and invites us to consider its definition and import today."--BOOK JACKET.

Wanna know what the problem is? It’s God. Deep down inside, in that quiet place in our heart and soul, the problem is we don’t know if he is real. I was betrayed by the church, hurt by the leaders and the ones I looked up too, and embarassed about how “Christians” behave. So I walked away. For more than a decade I left it all behind, I didn’t need God. I equated all the hurt and bitterness the church had caused me with God. But that’s not God. After a decade focused on my career, my wealth, my happiness, my desires, I found myself on a wild adventure with God. Through the army, coaching professional hockey in Europe, helping victims of war in Burma, and a long walk in Spain, I slowly began to see the true nature and character of God. He wasn’t into rules and religion, he didn’t want me to memorize the Bible and follow all the traditions, he just wanted my heart. Through my struggle with depression I learned that God is real, not because of some warm fuzzy feeling I had one time, but I actually mathematically concluded that God is real. Want to meet the real Jesus? Want to know if God is really real? Come on an adventure with me.

Virtually no one would deny the extent and intensity of suffering in the world. Can one also consistently hold that there is an omniscient, omnipotent, perfectly good God? This book argues that the difficult questions raised by the problem of suffering can be considered best in the context of biblical narratives.

Only the most naïve or tendentious among us would deny the extent and intensity of suffering in the world. Can one hold, consistently with the common view of suffering in the world, that there is an omniscient, omnipotent, perfectly good God? This book argues that one can. Wandering in Darkness first presents the moral psychology and value theory within which one typical traditional theodicy, namely, that of Thomas Aquinas, is embedded. It explicates Aquinas's account of the good for human beings, including the nature of love and union among persons. Eleonore Stump also makes use of developments in neurobiology and developmental psychology to illuminate the nature of such union. Stump then turns to an examination of narratives. In a methodological section focused on epistemological issues, the book uses recent research involving autism spectrum disorder to argue that some philosophical problems are best considered in the context of narratives. Using the methodology argued for, the book gives detailed, innovative exegeses of the stories of Job, Samson, Abraham and Isaac, and Mary of Bethany. In the context of these stories and against the backdrop of Aquinas's other views, Stump presents Aquinas's own theodicy, and shows that Aquinas's theodicy gives a powerful explanation for God's allowing suffering. She concludes by arguing that this explanation constitutes a consistent and cogent defense for the problem of suffering.