Res Philosophica

Volume 90, Issue 1, January 2013

Philosophy of Religion

Nicholas Wolterstorff
Pages 33-48

C. S. Lewis on the Problem of Suffering

C. S. Lewis’s small book, The Problem of Pain, first published in 1940, is essentially a theodicy, specifically, a version of soul-making theodicy. In this essay I present Lewis’s theodicy and I offer some critical comments. I conclude by asking whether his theodicy remains intact and helpful upon the death of Lewis wife, as he reflects on that in A Grief Observed. I conclude that it does.