Book Review: Searching for an Adequate God

It is hard to summarize the ideas presented in this book to fit in a short post, so I will do my best. This book takes the form of a debate, between Free-Will Theists and Process Theists. Free-Will Theists typically come from an evangelical background and Process Theists are a subset of liberal, mainstream protestantism. Despite the difference in their backgrounds, there are many ways that both of these theories about God are similar. Both try to answer the question, "If God is All-Powerful and God is good, why does evil exist?" They both answer the question by limiting God's powerfulness. In the Process model, they describe two methods that God could use to bring about change in the world. The first is persuasion and the second is cohersion. Process thought would maintain that cohersion is inconsistent with a loving God. Free-will theists are uncomfortable in limiting God in this way, but they do recognize that by giving humans free will and self determination, God has limited himself in what he can do.

If you are interested in why evil exists (known as Theodicy), but are unsatisfied with explanations that you have heard, I highly recommend this book. I especially appreciated the thoughts of Richard Rice (a SDA theologian) and David Wheeler.