The Problem of Suffering

If God is good and all-powerful, why does pain exist? Lewis's first book on faith, written coldly, philosophically, twenty years before he himself experienced grief. **Title original** — *The Problem of Pain* **First publication** — 1940 **Genre** — Apologetics (essay) **First English edition** — The Centenary Press (Geoffrey Bles), London, October 1940; dedicated to the Inklings **Available in bookstores** — Available (Pierre Téqui, 2020, trans. Denis Ducatel). **Reading level** — Intermediate **For whom** — For those who question with a calm mind. For someone grieving, prefer *A Grief Observed*. **Year** — 1940## How to approach it

Level: Intermediate. For those who are pondering it thoughtfully. For someone in grief, prefer Theodicy.

## The book in a few words

Lewis tackles the issue head-on, starting by recalling that he became an atheist precisely because of the suffering in the world. He examines what "omnipotence" and "goodness" mean: God cannot do contradictory things, such as create free beings who could not choose evil. A world where free beings live together requires stable laws, and thus the possibility of harming one another. He then discusses human wickedness, the Fall, suffering as an alarm, before moving on to more surprising chapters: hell, the pain of animals, and finally heaven, which we desire without realizing it. He concludes with a warning: his book is not addressed to those who suffer, but rather to those who need courage and compassion.

## In Lewis’s workshop

Commissioned by publisher Ashley Sampson for a series, the book appeared at the start of the Blitz. It was this work that drew the attention of the BBC, which would later invite Lewis to give his famous radio talks.

## What announces Narnia

Pain that transforms: Eustace is stripped by Aslan to be delivered from his dragon skin in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

## What today’s reader retains

The book is read today with a double awareness: we know that its author would twenty years later experience the pain he analyzes here with such calm. This is what makes it an honest document, and Lewis’s own warning remains valuable: reasoning about suffering can never replace compassion for those who suffer.

## The legacy it left behind

The book established Lewis’s reputation as an apologist. It is often read alongside Theodicy (1961): the first reasons, the second cries out. Lewis never disowned the first, but the second shows its limits.

## Key ideas to remember

• Freedom and the price of love.
• Suffering as a megaphone.
• Hell, a locked door from the inside.
• The pain of animals.
• The longing for heaven.

## Quotes

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our sufferings: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
— The Problem of Pain, ch. 6 — translation from the website

## Read it in French

• The Problem of Pain, Desclée de Brouwer, Paris, 1950, trans. Marguerite Faguer — first translation, preface by Maurice Nédoncelle; reissued in 1967 and 1975
• The Problem of Pain, Raphaël, Le Mont-Pèlerin, 2001
• The Problem of Pain, Pierre Téqui, Paris, 2020, trans. Denis Ducatel

## See also

• Theodicy
• The Foundations of Christianity
• Reasoning or Storytelling? Lewis’s two apologetics and their critics
• Eustace Clarence Scrubb

Sources

• https://www.pintswithjack.com/csl-in-france/
• https://lafree.ch/les-livres-de-c-s-lewis-traduits-en-francais/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Problem_of_Pain