Why does an all loving God allow evil and suffering in the world? The theodicy isn’t just a problem for popes and theologians—at some point in any believers life it’s a question that seizes and stops a prayer in the throat.

Yet we try to offer inadequate answers all the time: God only gives us what we can handle. This is a test. Everything happens for a reason. Push any of these responses a bit, and the unraveling begins.

Perhaps the only real answer is in asking the questions. In poetry. In prayer. Joe Hoover, S.J., America’s poetry editor, is out with a new book O Death, Where is Thy Sting?, which is a meditation on all of this and more. In this week’s show, Zac and Ashley sit down with Joe to talk about suffering—fitting for Good Friday. 

Links from the show: 

Joe’s book: O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?

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