52 Books in 52 Weeks, it's called. The challenge is simple: read a book every week for a year.
01. The doors of the sea: where was God in the tsunami?.
Hart tackles the problem of evil in the wake of the 2005 tsunami that decimated a large portion of the Indian subcontinent. He makes the distinction between God’s Providence and the requirement that God be directly responsible for every contingent event. He develops the argument (also in Atheist Delusions) that a true and robust definition of freedom involves the ability to achieve the full expression of one’s nature, and so to hold that God is responsible for evil, or that evil is somehow a necessary part of the realization of an ultimately Good eschaton, is to restrict God’s freedom to be completely Good. Evil is simply an “ontological wasting disease,” the necessary ‘nothing’ that springs from man’s ability to choose against God.
Hart is also wise enough to concede that no one can accept this without first finding faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the entry point, for us, into understanding God — we look at Jesus, we see the Father. I found this just as compelling as, and easier to get through than, Atheist Delusions. Worth it.
