Abstract
For Hauerwas, the most troublesome situation in facing pain, suffering and death is the apparent inexplicable and pointless death of the child, e.g., with leukemia. Using poignant stories of, and research on, dying children, the author exposes the reader to the full impact of the problem in a sensitive treatment which interacts with other current viewpoints. He finds the freewill defense coldly theoretical and inadequate. The often pious reasons given by well-intentioned friends to the anguishing parents "so that they could grow spiritually; so that God could be glorified; so that their values would be made more Christ-like; so that love and community would be fostered among believers; so that they would know how to help others who suffer" are false and "make God the ultimate sadist" (pp. 94-95). Parents eventually realize that "suffering is the result of the world we live in. God isn't doing it" (p. 95).