MSI Press Blog

  3 “Tell me you’ll love me for a million years. Then you can tell me we tried.” (The Casinos) For most people, this may be the most important topic in this book. “There are no atheists in a foxhole.” In other words, people often look to God and religion in times of crisis; in times when they recognize and acknowledge their own fragility and ultimate helplessness. As the Danish existentialist Soren Kierkegaard describes it, these are the times Of Fear and Trembling (1843). Yes, a crisis is not necessarily a bad thing. A crisis can be a wake-up call—the understanding, finally, that everything is not all right just as it is and that change, sometimes radical change, is necessary. But a crisis can also lead to terror, the terror of a past that is no longer viable and a future that is most uncertain, and terror can lead to paralysis and paralysis can lead to despair. The benefits of theology in such times have not been historically all that clear. In fact, the Deism of the 17th a...

  Good and evil are not destinations; they are gravitational fields. Each pulls on us in ways that reveal what we long for, what we fear, and what we believe the world owes us. People are drawn to good because it resonates with the deepest structure of human life. Goodness is relational — it binds us to others, affirms our dignity, and reminds us that we are part of a larger fabric. To choose good is to choose coherence: a world where compassion has weight, where justice is possible, where truth is not merely an instrument but a value. Goodness offers the quiet satisfaction of alignment — the sense that one’s inner life and outer actions are not at war. But people are drawn to evil for reasons that are just as human. Evil promises immediacy: power without patience, freedom without responsibility, victory without vulnerability. It appeals to the part of us that is tired of being small, tired of waiting, tired of being wounded. Evil whispers that the world is a contest and that onl...

  A Multifaith Reflection on Suffering and the Sacred It’s one of the oldest and most unsettling questions in human history: If God is good, why does evil persist? Why do the innocent suffer, the unjust thrive, and violence echo through generations? Every major religious tradition wrestles with this tension—not to solve it neatly, but to live with it faithfully. Here’s how some of them approach the paradox: ✝️ Christianity: Free Will and Redemptive Suffering Christian theology often frames evil as the consequence of human free will. God, in love, allows choice—even when that choice leads to harm. Suffering, while painful, can also be redemptive. The crucifixion of Christ is seen not as divine failure, but as a profound act of solidarity with human pain. Evil exists, but grace persists. 🕊️ Islam: Divine Wisdom Beyond Human Understanding In Islam, everything happens by the will of Allah, but not all is meant to be understood. Evil and suffering are seen as tests—opportunities for pa...

  What Is Evil? 1. The Question What is evil. Not as a villain in a story, not as a label we slap on what we fear — but as a real, persistent question: What do we mean when we say something is evil? 2. The Human Angle You see a news story that makes your stomach turn. You hear about cruelty that feels incomprehensible. You witness someone act with coldness, calculation, or indifference to suffering. And you think: That’s evil. But then you pause. Is it? Or is it brokenness? Ignorance? Illness? Is evil a force, a choice, a shadow, a wound? 3. The Inquiry Philosophers and theologians have offered many lenses: St. Augustine : Evil is not a thing, but the absence of good — like darkness is the absence of light. Manichaeism : Evil is a real, opposing force — locked in cosmic battle with good. Kant : Evil is the corruption of the will — choosing self-interest over moral duty. Schopenhauer : Evil is the blind will to live — trampling others in pursuit of desire. Nietzsche : Evi...