Suffering and the Courage of God: Exploring How Grace and Suffering Meet [Paperback]

Robert Corin Morris (Author), Robert Corin Morris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2005

How we relate to suffering depends on how we choose to respond to the everyday events of life. According to pastor and spiritual director Robert Corin Morris, who faces his own struggles with chronic depression each day, we need a new understanding of God’s role in human suffering. The traditional view--that God is transcendent, "above" human suffering, somehow "beholding" and sympathizing with it--fails to take into account how God also experiences suffering.

In this life-changing book, Morris challenges us--regardless of creed or denomination--to consider a biblical picture of God that is radically different from the traditional view. He reveals God’s gracious and courageous participation in all aspects of our lives, both our sufferings, and our joys.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this brief, satisfyingly pastoral volume, Morris, an Episcopal priest, reflects homiletically on suffering and the nature of both God and humanity. He begins by rejecting the common Christian assumption that suffering is inherently good, and that God loves us best when we take abuse gladly. Instead, Morris exhorts his readers to respond courageously and redemptively to suffering, and to do so with Christ as a model. While he refers graciously to other faith traditions, Morris speaks from an unabashedly Christian perspective, and despite the slimness of this book, he manages to proffer some big ideas. With some especially fine insights about Job, he argues for a universe in which human actions, randomness and God's sovereignty combine to determine events. Moreover, he suggests that suffering is never as pervasive as God's love, goodness and ability to redeem even the worst situation. This optimistic proposition, however, does not take the form of pithy bromides that underestimate the depth of human suffering. Rather, Morris cites his own struggle with mental illness and the devastating stories of people to whom he has ministered to show that while God rarely makes all the pain disappear, God does bless sufferers in powerful and surprising ways. (Sept.)
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Review

"Highly recommended." -- Library Journal, July 2005

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Paraclete Press (MA); 1 edition (September 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557254281
• ISBN-13: 978-1557254283
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,658,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding Courage in the Goodness of God, October 3, 2005

By 

J. Tomaine (Mountainside, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Suffering and the Courage of God: Exploring How Grace and Suffering Meet (Paperback)

As much as we might yearn for a different reality, truth is, there's suffering in life and plenty of it. Illness of body, mind or spirit, loss of loved ones, loss of job or meaning or friendships, disappointments and pain-all these and more can cause our hearts to ache, our minds to blacken and our bodies to bend under the crushing weight that can come as we battle against suffering. But we can choose another way, says priest and author Robert Corin Morris. In his recent and hope-filled book, Suffering and the Courage of God (Paraclete Press, 2005), Morris provides those who suffer-all of us-with a large dose of encouragement by showing us that the way we face suffering will make a difference. We can choose how we respond to suffering.
Morris sets the stage by discussing suffering as a real presence in life and positions choice as a way to move through suffering. "It is the way suffering is faced," Morris explains, "that makes the difference between whether pain, sorrow, difficulty, deprivation, or challenge becomes a part of our self's stretching or shrinking." Openly citing his own struggles with depression and weaving in the stories of other lives, Morris suggests that the way through is not by "redemptive suffering," as though suffering itself had "some curative value," but by "suffering redemptively," which Morris defines as facing suffering "with a courage and compassion that can clear our minds for creative responses to adversity." To choose suffering redemptively is to choose healing and transformation.
For Morris, that path has been a challenging one. By throwing away the image of Jesus' suffering presented to him in childhood, Morris came to see the suffering Christ "not as a helpless victim but as a subtle victor, courageously engaged in a deep struggle against the power of any victimizing force to undo us. His suffering is not borne passively, but embraced actively by a love and life bigger than any suffering." Believing that "all our sufferings are carried in an even bigger and stronger courage-God's own courageous love," enabled him to embrace his own "inward hum of pain" rather than running from it. Instead he worked through this pain, step-by-step, into a deep and profound healing.
Morris proposes that all courage begins in the heart of God. Not traditionally on the list of divine attributes, it was surprising to consider courage as a quality possessed by God, yet Morris sees God's courage implied in the stories of the Bible. Whether or not one can believe fully that courage is an attribute of God, embracing even the smallest belief that we can tap into a courage bigger than our own will surely lift the spirits. Envisioning the expansiveness of God's love and walking into this vision is so much more helpful in suffering than trying to just push away fear, anger or helplessness which is always a futile action. Stepping into the limitlessness of God opens us to the power of the Spirit that heals in surprising ways.
Morris presents resources that we can use to meet suffering redemptively. Prayer is our most immediate resource as we connect to what is life-giving-the love of God for us. God is our Divine Resource. We are encouraged to find joy in whatever happens, always striving to be connected to the goodness of God. Morris also reminds us that we were not to be not alone but to be with others in suffering. He brings us into a bigger sphere, that of the world, proposing that how we suffer "either helps or hinders the progress of God's gracious purposes." Not content to just explain his ideas, Morris provides helpful, heart-expanding exercises for facing suffering redemptively. Titles like "breathing into the spaciousness of God" and "investing in the treasury of the heart" invite reader to enter into the goodness of God.
Although the title points about suffering and God's courage, the main focus of the book is on how we can transform suffering into something that is life-giving. As in his other books, Morris has chosen beautiful, touching stories to illustrate and illuminate his ideas. The book is graced with constructive thoughts and transforming suggestions for suffering to become an opportunity for growth and is a timely help for those of us trying to make sense out of, not only our own suffering, but also the suffering caused by events like the September 11 terrorist attacks and recent hurricanes in the South. And while I'm not 100% sold on the idea that courage is an attribute of God, Morris has convinced me to give this theology a try.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem of Sacred Wisdom on Suffering, October 5, 2005

By 

Sue Zivi - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Suffering and the Courage of God: Exploring How Grace and Suffering Meet (Paperback)

I loved this gem of a comforting and instructive book that creatively links suffering with the courage and grace of God. Coping with both the small and large challenges of living are placed within an innovative framework of "suffering redemptively." This idea of embracing and learning from all that happens to us is supported by strong biblical references, refreshing ideas, "up close and personal" illustrative stories, and practical implementation strategies. Going beyond individual life challenges, this book also deals with ways to helpfully support suffering friends,family and the world through prayer and action. Robert Corin Morris' "Suffering and the Courage of God" is highly recommended as a heart centered
path that can lead from suffering to understanding and embracing the underlying and ever present goodness of the Divine. This book truly presents important sacred wisdom for our troubling times.

Sue Zivi

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars God as a Risk Taker, September 29, 2005

By 

J. Towell (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Suffering and the Courage of God: Exploring How Grace and Suffering Meet (Paperback)

This book gave me new ideas about God. First, that God, having given us the freedom to choose the path we want to follow, takes the risk that we will choose a "Good" one. Second, that this freedom takes enormous courage on God's part because things may not work the way that God would prefer.

I also found the exercises at the end of the book very useful in giving me methods to enhance my spiritual journey.