Who Rules the World: Divine Providence and the Existence of Evil

Hans Schwarz

Mar 2021 · Fortress Press

About this ebook

Over a career spanning more than fifty years, Hans Schwarz has grappled with nearly all of Christianity's major theological questions. In this latest volume, Schwarz tackles the perennial problem of evil. How is it possible to reconcile the manifest evil and pain in the world with the biblical promise of hope and redemption? Are we, in fact, "lonely wanderers in the immensity of the universe about whom nobody cares," or is there something above and beyond us in which we can trust?

To this perennial question Schwarz brings his signature blend of pastoral sensitivity and scholarly acumen. Informed by decades in the classroom, Schwarz offers a sweeping survey of views of the problem of evil, beginning with the world's major religious traditions before focusing on the major views across the broad span of Christian history.

The book aims to help readers interested in the problem of evil understand the broad sweep of human thought about the problem, and make informed assessments of the issue for themselves.

About the author

Hans Schwarz is professor emeritus of systematic theology at the University of Regensburg, Germany. From 1967 to 1981 he was professor at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. He has presented more than six hundred lectures on five continents and is the author of more than thirty books, including The Christian Faith: A Creedal Account (2014) and The Human Being: A Theological Anthropology (2013). His more than forty doctoral students teach in many different countries.