With relatively brief observation, both the beauty of the natural world, as well as its destructive potential, can be realized. The elements which facilitate life—earth, wind, fire, water—can all too quickly morph into forces of damage and pain: earth becomes landslides; wind becomes tornados; fire becomes all-consuming flames; water becomes tsunamis. These and other natural disasters pose questions in the face of the “good” Creator Christians purport to worship. If Christians are to affirm God as Creator, specifically a good Creator who brought the cosmos into being, how are we to account for “natural evil”?
David Bentley Hart’s book The Doors of the Sea addresses this question while considering the natural disaster of the 2004 Christmas
David Bentley Hart’s book The Doors of the Sea addresses this question while considering the natural disaster of the 2004 Christmas