Crime, famine, disease, war, earthquakes, floods; we open our newspapers, or switch on our television sets, and are confronted with pain and suffering in the world. And that doesn't include a myriad of lesser hurts: daily ones which, while they don't show up on the news, tear at us nonetheless - relationship breakdowns, disloyalty, rejection.

We all experience pain and evil to some extent and are affected by others who experience it as well. Our suffering is made worse by being unable to understand or explain why it is happening - Where is God in this? Why doesn't he do something? Is he cruel? Is he there?

Even many Christians, who should know some of the answers, can only offer pop-theology clichés to the question of 'Why bad things happen?' Can't we be more helpful than that?

We should have more confidence. The Bible sheds light on the ultimate resolution of the problem of evil, a problem so central to human experience. Dr. Morley explores how there can be a God who is loving, just and righteous in spite of the fact that the world is full of pain and evil.

Are you putting the blame in the right place? Morley looks at the major reasons for pain and evil: investigating misconceptions about God and illness, the origins of poverty, birth defects and the causes of war. You will be gripped by the thought-provoking nature of his arguments and enlightened by a coping strategy for pain and evil - one that builds a fully-connected world-view into a realisation of our personal part in resolving the problem of evil.

God has understandable and wonderful reasons for bringing about a world like ours - a place of tragedy... and a place of grace.

Dr. Brian Morley is the Professor of Philosophy and Apologetics at the Master's College, Santa Clarita, California. He has taught in European and American Graduate Schools and been an European government consultant on education.