In view of the witness of Scripture, therefore, we do not come closer to solving the problem of evil by diminishing God’s active and purposeful involvement in any sphere of life. To remove God’s sovereignty from the realm of evil before it occurs forces us to conceive of God either as playing “catch-up,” by redeeming evil only after we have carried it out (after all, in this view, to intervene sooner would jeopardize our free will), or as standing on the sidelines, sympathetic in our struggles but unable to help. Apart from God’s sovereignty, God’s love in the midst of suffering is downsized to an emotional response of “caring.”
— Scott Hafemann (b. 1954), Theologe und Neutestamentler
Topics: Suffering & the Question of God, God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit
Occasions: For Reflection
Scott Hafemann
Scott Hafemann (* 1954) ist ein US-amerikanischer evangelikaler Neutestamentler und Theologe, der unter anderem am Wheaton College, am Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary und an der University of St Andrews lehrte. Bekannt ist er für seine Arbeiten zur paulinischen Theologie, insbesondere zum zweiten Korintherbrief, sowie für die theologische Betonung der Kontinuität von Altem und Neuem Testament. Bibellesern vermittelt seine Exegese ein vertieftes Schriftverständnis, das alttestamentliche Verheißungen eng mit praktischer Kreuzesnachfolge und Glaubensgehorsam verbindet.
All quotes by Scott Hafemann (39)
In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others.
Henri Nouwen
Ultimately mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of One who can heal.
Henri Nouwen
C.S. Lewis
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.
Henri Nouwen
He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.
Joni Eareckson Tada
Etty Hillesum
God writes straight even on crooked lines.
Paul Claudel
God lets us walk no path that he himself has not walked, and on which he does not go ahead of us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer