Rating: 
Summary: Rightly Challenging?
Review: As much as I would like to, I can not entirely recommend this book. It deals with the problem of evil in the world more honestly and candidly than most Christian authors do. Even Philip Yancey's various books on evil and suffering struggle to be as honest in their dealing with evil and suffering as Gregory Boyd is within this book. Yancey functions still within the Augustinian framework that Boyd seeks to set aside, specifically the belief that God is in control of every minutia of our lives, including those bad things that happen to us. Augustinian thinking says that all of the details of this world's existence fold into God's greater plan. Boyd does not so much directly disagree with this as he suggests much more is out of control in this world than Augustinian thinking allows for. Perhaps a simple way of looking at Boyd's thesis is that God's overarching plan for history is His to control and is only known to Him; however, the details of our life, while God cares for these things, are wrapped up in the outworking of man's free will. The book's honesty appeals to me, although upon further reflection I have been unclear about the role he sees prayer having within our lives or exactly what I am appealing to God for in my moments of need. Perhaps Boyd would suggest I should be looking less to God to rescue me from the situation and more to give me the right spirit with which to handle the difficulties I find myself in. Our need to know God is in control is perhaps rightly seen by cynics as little more than the similar need to believe in an afterlife; the beliefs are reinforced more to placate our deeper fears than because of the deeper truths they can rightly illuminate. I think in time I will come to see that Boyd's approach appeals more to me as it stresses my personal responsibility to assist in making the goals of the kingdom advance.
Rating: 
Summary: Satisfying answers to complex questions
Review: For the first time in the 22 years of my Christian experience (that has included reading through the bible many times, listening to hundreds of sermons and reading scores of books) I have been able to move past the unsatisying "pat answers" to an understanding of the "problem of evil" that makes sense and squares with the revelation of God in the life of Jesus Christ. This book is scripturally sound, easy to read and immensely helpful. I think it should be required reading for all Christ followers.
Rating: 
Summary: Fails as serious response to evil
Review: For those enjoying Rabbi Harold Kushner 'Why Bad Things Happen to Good People', this will make a spongy sequel.
If you are serious about answers to the problem of evil in a Good God's world, read the Book of Revelation carefully with a good commentary (Mounce, Alan Johnson, Metzger, More Than Conquerors). Suffering is the way it is in this cursed world, for believers & unbelievers alike. You can either follow the Beast and be in pain-avoidance/rationalizing mode ("I demand answers! I want out!"). Or you can follow the Lamb and see God-authorized suffering/tribulation as redemptive and conformative to Christ Who suffered unbearably, yet conquered ("Thy will be done. We must thru much tribulation enter the Kingdom of God"). Christus Victor!
Rating:
Summary: The Sovereign LORD uses evil for good purposes
Review: How short-sighted this book comes across. It takes only certain bible verses to make its case and ignores a whole lot of contrary data. Not the best way to argue a case, eh?Being a sinful, fallen, cursed, evil, devil-dominated, corrupted planet, that doesn't leave a Perfect God much to work with down here, does it? About all the sinless instruments He could use was His Son, Jesus. That leaves a lot of unsanitary, sinful, evil instruments to have to utilize for heavenly purposes. Like sunshine on a brackish,stagnant pond that evaporates undrinkable impure water to multiple good purposes in the hydrologic cycle yet without tainting the sun's beams or the sun itself, so the LORD uses brackish people, situations and their evil to accomplish holy purposes. Obviously not the originator of evil, he takes what the devil and sinners concoct and changes the recipe as it were from their evil intentions to something marvelous to behold. For those taken with this book and its unbiblical ideas, please review again the life of Noah (destructive worldwide flood sent by God directly), Abraham (tests arranged by God), Joseph (persecution,enslavement,emprisonment orchestrated by God), Moses (plagues, death of firstborn, annihilation of Egyptian army, punishment of wicked Israelites, wilderness wanderings and trials (ALL caused by God Himself), the Crucifixion (designed by God using evil Roman & Jewish instruments), etc. If only this book addressed these elementary accounts of how a Good God like a Surgeon operates with evil instruments, unsterilized operating conditions and rebellious patients to work medical wonders! We on this side of eternity with our minimal 3-pound thinking capacity will never fully grasp the hows and whys of the Holocaust, Stalin's pogroms, AIDS epidemic, Sept.11, natural disasters and the gamut of human tragedy playing itself out since the Fall. But at least give God the credit for knowing what to do about it all, seeing it coming, and making more than ample divine provision for it in His infinite capacity of Love, Wisdom and Justice. We look at things short-term, partially, thru a glass darkly. It's only the 4th Quarter, not the end of the Game, let alone the End of the Season. The Lord will straighten things out and bring ultimate satisfaction as He sees fit in due time. It's best to leave such things to His Sovereignty rather than foolishly speculate or try to get God 'off the hook'for allegedly gratuitous evil on His watch. Never forget: ALL evil since Lucifer's fall happened on God's watch. He can handle it. The question is, can we handle God's handling of it? This book can't. The Bible does.
Rating:
Summary: heh
Review: I personally loved the book. I'm not an open theist (and no, I don't go to his church...) and I was able to get the big picture of things, getting a general idea that God does not cause evil. That is a belief that I had before and a belief that I will carry throughout studies and ministry. Hopefully some will come out of their amen corner and see a more realistic view of things.
Rating:
Summary: heh
Review: I personally loved the book. I'm not an open theist (and no, I don't go to his church...) and I was able to get the big picture of things, getting a general idea that God does not cause evil. That is a belief that I had before and a belief that I will carry throughout studies and ministry. Hopefully some will come out of their amen corner and see a more realistic view of things.
Rating:
Summary: God is evil?
Review: If God uses evil and Satan wanted to oppose God, then would Satan do good?
If God uses evil, and we want to be imitators of God, can we use evil?
If God uses evil, and God is good, does that make evil good?
These are the kind of logical conundrums the "God uses evil" illogicians fall into.
Rating:
Summary: Controversial Commonsense
Review: In response to Simone: read St Matthew 10:29 and St Luke 12:6 in the original Greek, and you will see that the texts are addressing God's "remembrance" or "knowledge," and with that, His loving care.
This book should not be controversial. It is simply a statement of what every Christian implicitly believes, even if it is contradicted by his or her explicit theology. Practical spiritual life is inevitably founded on the fundamentally Biblical world-view that Dr Boyd presents here. This Biblical world-view presents us with the reality of free agents who may and often do act contrary to the will of God. Since these free agents are both human and angelic/demonic, that means that the unfathomably complex web of their interactions often produces a state of affairs which is effectively at war with God. This is why Jesus tells us to PRAY that God's will be done on earth -- because at present, it isn't. Are there Scriptures which provide a witness against this point of view? There are no Scriptures that absolutely and unequivocally condemn it (Dr Boyd deals with the hardest witnesses against his views). And to adopt the contrary point of view involves one in theological, philosophical, and spiritual quandaries of such depth and severity that to me, at any rate, it is clear that they have never been adequately addressed. Dr Boyd's point of view here also supports the Christus Victor theology of the Atonement (and vice versa).
Like "The God of the Possible," this book is a lighter, more popular treatment of themes Dr Boyd develops in greater depth elsewhere -- in "God At War" and "Satan and the Problem of Evil." You shouldn't make a final judgment before you've read those. I think Dr Boyd's purpose here is to draw out some of the practical, helpful spiritual consequences of the "cosmic war" motif. And as a pastor, I empathize deeply with his motivation, which is to provide truth and solace to the suffering.
God did not will Auschwitz -- this is the bottom line (and in the sense that, as Dr Boyd points out, the gift of freedom is by nature irrevocable, He didn't even "permit" it, except in the sense that He "permitted" the entire universe to come into existence). That is an axiomatic statement for me; I regard it as self-evident. If in the last analysis anyone disagrees with that proposition, I have to wonder if we're reading the same Scriptures or even worshipping the same God. Dr Boyd makes a coherent Scriptural context for asserting that God did not will Auschwitz, and draws out some valuable consequences for us in our walk with the Lord. A very valuable effort, Scripturally sound and heartfelt, and worth your deep attention and consideration!
Rating:
Summary: Explodes the subtly skewed theology of ultra-conservatives!
Review: Okay, here's the deal. Of course, God uses evil to bring about good. That's a whole subtheme of the book. However, the main point is that GOD DOES NOT CAUSE THE EVIL! I have been in the place of the woman whom the author describes at the beginning of the book. I have lost my passion about God because I blamed him for the terrible things in my life. This book helped me find my faith again, and it helped me renew my relationship with God in a new and wonderful way.
Much harm has been done in the name of Christianity because people don't understand the basic premise that Boyd is bringing to light. This book may trouble those who do not want to let go of their preconceived and narrow ideas, but for me, it was a Godsend!
Rating:
Summary: If God doesn't use evil, then illogical enigmas rule?!?
Review: This book leaves too much to be desired.
The Lord is Good and is faultless,sinless,blameless working through, despite, in, with & among the midst of the evil of his creatures.
If God doesn't use evil, then Adam's fall into sin and the death penalty CANNOT be turned by God into Salvatory Good at the Cross
If God doesn't use evil, then Job's attack by the devil (allowed in advance by God's express permission) CANNOT have resulted in Job's sanctification, growth in faith and ultimate reward/restoration and the calling of his 3 friends to repent
If God doesn't use evil, then Joseph's betrayal/kidnapping by his brothers, slavery and unjust imprisonment CANNOT have resulted in preserving the Family of Jacob during the famine and continuing the Messianic Ancestral Line intact, doing much good for many
If God doesn't use evil, then Jesus' life of sorrows, betrayal by a Satan-possessed Judas, rejection by His Own people, false condemnation by Jews and unjust wicked torture/execution by Gentiles CANNOT have secured salvation to fulfill Jn 3:16
If God doesn't use evil, then Peter's sermons in Acts 2-5 CANNOT be true statements about a Blameless God accomplishing His foreordained/predestined purposes
If God doesn't use evil, but uses only good people/things, God CANNOT be the God of the Bible, but a limited deity unable/unwilling to 'work ALL (even neutral or evil) THINGS for GOOD to those who love HIM' - he becomes only the god of some (non-evil) things
THAT is the riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma of the unscriptural illogician named Laika from Shoreview, Minnesota.
This book gets it as wrong as Job's three friends did.
Luther said it best: 'Satan is God's devil.' None of his or anyone's evil thwarts God's ultimate purposes, but is instead woven divinely into the fabric of God's robes of righteousness bestowed on His saints for the Gospel & Jesus' suffering's sake.
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