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God and Horrendous Suffering

“Loftus has again produced a brilliant gallery of informed experts, now addressing the problem of evil from every angle, and with such power and depth that it shall be required reading for anyone promoting or opposing evil as a disproof of God.”

—Dr. Richard Carrier, author of Jesus from Outer Space

and Sense and Goodness without God

“The most pressing challenge to belief in God today is undoubtedly the problem of pain. One only needs to read the provocative array of essays in this volume of leading atheists and other non-theists to see why this is such an ongoing problem for those of us who believe that God is real. Whatever one’s beliefs or worldview, and whether one agrees or disagrees, I commend all seekers of truth to read and reflect on this significant work that John Loftus has so skillfully edited.”

—Dr. Chad Meister, Professor of Philosophy at Bethel University and co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to the Problem of Evil

  

“Loftus’ previous book, The Case Against Miracles, is the final nail hammered into the coffin of magical, miraculous beliefs. This book on horrendous suffering should permanently inter that coffin, and with it morally absurd reasoning in defense of religious faith.”

—Dr. Peter Boghossian, author of A Manual for Creating Atheists,

and co-author of How to Have Impossible Conversations

The Problem of Animal Suffering

By

John W. Loftus

Pages: 67-96

DOI: 10.33929/GCRRPress.2024.02.04

About the Author

John W. Loftus earned MA, MDiv, and ThM degrees in philosophy of religion. He also studied in a PhD program at Marquette University. He is the author of Why I Became an Atheist, The Outsider Test for Faith, How to Defend the Christian Faith, Unapologetic, and the co-author of God or Godless (with Randal Rauser). He’s also the editor of The Christian Delusion, The End of Christianity, Christianity is Not Great, Christianity in the Light of Science, The Case against Miracles and co-editor of Varieites of Jesus Mythicism. He is the founder of the blog, Debunking Christianity (http://www.debunking-christianity.com/).

Chapter Bibliography

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  • Barr, James. The Garden of Eden and the Hope of Immortality. SCM Press, 1992.

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  • Chisholm, Roderick. “The Defeat of Good and Evil.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association 42 (1968‒1969).

  • Cohen, Steven M., and David Shatz, eds. Contemporary Philosophy of Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.

  • Copan, Paul. “That’s Just Your Interpretation”: Responding to Skeptics Who Challenge Your Faith. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001.

  • Corey, Michael A. Back to Darwin: The Scientific Case for Deistic Evolution. University Press of America, 1994.

  • ———. Evolution and the Problem of Natural Evil, Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2000.

  • Craig, William Lane. “#355 Animal Pain Re-Visited.” Reasonable Faith (blog), February 02, 2014. https://tinyurl.com/29y8wx22

  • Darwin, Charles. The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1809‒1882. New York; W.W. Norton and Company, 1958.

  • ———. Metaphysics, Materialism and the Evolution of the Mind. University of Chicago Press edition, 2011.

  • ———. On the Origin of Species. Macmillan Collector’s Library; Reissue Edition, February 7, 2017.

  • Dawkins, Richard. River out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.

  • Dembski, William. The End of Christianity: Finding a Good God in an Evil World. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2009.

  • Dougherty, Trent. The Problem of Animal Pain: A Theodicy for All Creatures Great And Small. Palgrave Macmillan; 2014.

  • Giberson, Karl. Saving the Original Sinner: How Christians Have Used the Bible’s First Man to Oppress, Inspire, and Make Sense of the World. Boston: Beacon Press, 2015.

  • Grandin, Temple, and Catherine Johnson. Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior. Orlando, FL: Harvest Books, 2005.

  • Haught, John. Deeper than Darwin: The Prospect for Religion in the Age of Evolution. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2004.

  • Hick, John. Evil and the God of Love. 4th ed., London: Collins, 1975.

  • Hitchens, Christopher, ed. The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever. Philadelphia, PA: Da Capo Press, 2007.

  • Hume, David. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. New York, Bobbs-Merrill, 1947.

  • Ingersoll, Robert G. “The Gods,” From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll. Vol. 1.

  • Joad, C. E. M. “The Pains of Animals.” In Animals and Christianity, 59. Crossroad, 1988.

  • Keller, James A. Problems of Evil and the Power of God. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2007.

  • Law, Stephen. “William Lane Craig: ‘Animals Aren’t Aware That They’re in Pain’.” Stephen Law (blog), October 04, 2012. tinyurl.com/3vxwtxyx

  • Lewis, C. S. The Problem of Pain. New York: Macmillan, 1962.

  • Linzey, Andrew. Why Animal Suffering Matters. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

  • Linzey, Andrew, and Dorothy Yamamoto, eds. Animals on the Agenda. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998.

  • Linzey, Andrew, and Tom Regan, eds. Animals and Christianity: A Book of Reading., New York: Crossroad, 1988.

  • Malebranche, Nicolas. The Search After Truth. eds. Thomas M. Lennon and Paul J. Olscamp, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

  • Maverick Atheism. “Murray and William Lane Craig on Animal Suffering.” Maverick Atheism (blog), February 26, 2016. tinyurl.com/474nfsnk

  • Miller, Kenneth. Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground Between God And Evolution. New York: HarperCollins, 1999.

  • Moltmann, Jurgen. The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology. trans. M. Kohl, Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2004.

  • Morris, Henry, and Martin Clark. The Bible Has the Answer. El Cajon, CA: Master Books, 1987.

  • Murray, Michael. Nature Red in Tooth and Claw. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

  • Pharyngula. “William Lane Craig and the Problem of Pain.” ScienceBlogs, November 08, 2011. https://tinyurl.com/mwnk4euu

  • Plantinga, Alvin. God, Freedom, and Evil. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974.

  • Preuss, T. M. “Do rats have prefrontal cortex? The rose-woolsey-akert program reconsidered.” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 7, no. 1 (1995).

  • Rachels, James. Created from Animals: The Moral Implication of Darwinism. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1990.

  • Regan, Tom. The Case for Animal Rights, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.

  • Rogerson, J.W. “What Was the Meaning of Animal Sacrifice?” In Animals on the Agenda. 11‒12, 13. Oxford University Press, 2009.

  • Schneider, John. Animal Suffering and the Darwinian Problem of Evil. Cambridge University Press, 2020.

  • ———. Review of The Problem of Animal Pain: A Theodicy for All Creatures Great and Small, by Trent Dougherty. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, December 24, 2014. https://tinyurl.com/bde9suhf

  • Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation. 2nd ed., New York: Avon Books, 1990.

  • Sollereder, Bethany. “Animal Suffering: God and Pain in the Evolutionary Story.” Lecture, Place, Baltimore, MD, April 18, 2019. https://tinyurl.com/bde7vwe7

  • ———. “Considering God, Evolution, and Animal Suffering.” Interview by Jennifer Wotochek. Regent College Interface, July 12, 2019. https://tinyurl.com/wvau2xch

  • ———. “Evolution, Suffering and the Creative Love of God,” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 68, no. 2 (2016).

  • ———. God, Evolution, and Animal Suffering: Theodicy Without a Fall, Routledge, 2020.

  • Southgate, Christopher. The Groaning of Creation. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008.

  • Strong, A. H., Systematic Theology. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1954.

  • Van Inwagen, Peter. The Problem of Evil. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006.

  • Ward, Keith. Rational Theology and the Creativity of God. New York: Pilgrim, 1982.

  • Wennberg, Robert. God, Humans and Animals: An Invitation to Enlarge Our Moral Universe. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003.

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