The Uncontrolling Love of God: An Open and Relational Account of Providence (IVP, 2015): This review of a new book from Thomas Oord, professor at Northwest Nazarene University, considers Oord’s thesis “that evil exists, quite simply, because ‘God cannot unilaterally prevent genuine evil.’ Theologians have long recognized that God can’t do all sorts of things—like create a round square, or lie, or be faithless. Oord simply expands the list of divine ‘cannots’ to the reality of controlling evil.” Students can consider how the Lutheran concept of Deus Absconditus may inform this perennial issue of theodicy.
