Theodicy & idiocy

Theodicy is the theological discipline which seeks to reconcile the goodness of God's character with the realities of sin and suffering in the world. All ecclesiastical and theological Christian traditions have a history of theodicy, and (not surprisingly) their answers to its questions are more or less satisfying. Because suffering is an especially personal question, we should expect that even the most theologically airtight theodicies will fail to satisfy at least some in the midst of their struggles; this is a simple pastoral reality.

The serious nature of theodicy makes the "contributions" of modernist scholars to the field extraordinarily aggravating. A parishoner picked up a copy of "Bible scholar" Bart D. Ehrman's God's Problem at a dollar store. From the dust jacket flap:

In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though, the Bible does not have one answer but many "answers" that often contradict one another. Consider these competing explanations for suffering put forth by various biblical writers:
• The prophets: suffering is a punishment for sin
• The book of Job, which offers two different answers: suffering is a test, and you will be rewarded later for passing it; and suffering is beyond comprehension, since we are just human beings and God, after all, is God
• Ecclesiastes: suffering is the nature of things, so just accept it
• All apocalyptic texts in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament: God will eventually make right all that is wrong with the world

Notice the presumption: different answers are necessarily contradictory. He seems not to have entertained the possibility they might be complementary: that is, one is true in this situation, another in that situation, and one or more will come into play at the Last Judgment. But of course, one would have to believe the Bible might be true, and that there will be a Last Judgment, in order to entertain said possibility.

I suppose this sort of "reasoning" is to be expected among those who have rejected the authority of Scripture and its account of God. I am continually astonished, however, that this quality of work is rewarded with doctorates and faculty appointments. Moreover, I am wonderstruck at the magnitude of idiocy in anyone who thinks such facile and sophomoric logic should persuade thinking adults.