Evil, Anger and God: A Biblical Pastoral Study

by: Milton Crum

Published by: Wingspan Press

Reviewed by Rev. Alex McGilvery

Evil, Anger and God is a slim volume that faces head on the question of evil in the world, and lays ultimate responsibility for that evil at the feet of God. Milton Crum takes great care in carefully defining language and the way we use it as he explores the relationship between God and evil. Unfortunately that same care over language makes this book a challenge to read.

Making a distinction between factual language–“The sun came up,” and faith language, “It is God’s will that the sun come up,”–he suggests that the faith language holds God accountable not for the physical events that cause the sun to rise, but for the mystery that those events occur. This understanding is key to his thesis and he returns to the differentiation between fact and faith language many times.

The pastoral reality behind Crum’s discussion is that we need to do something with the anger that evil engenders. If we direct it at the people around us who appear to be to blame for our misfortunes, it divides us from people at the very time when we need to be in community. Only by directing it at God can we express our anger in a way that doesn’t harm others. I would agree completely with this assessment.

The discussion in the closing chapters on how we can lay the responsibility for evil on God– and still see God as righteous–are the weakest. Even after careful reading I had to struggle to connect Crum’s arguments. I think he is right, but there is still a sense that this entire subject is beyond our ken–our understanding and knowledge.

This is an important book to work through, even with it being a very difficult read. There are questions at the end of each chapter to help in reflecting on what has been said. Several appendices cover a range of topics to aid in following the book. In the end you will just have to work through it one chapter at a time and give it a while to sink in. Yet I believe that any reader who does so will find it worth the effort.

Armchair Interviews says: A challenging but thought-provoking read.