The Book of Job: Or, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

Two Tuesdays: Nov. 17 and 24 | 9:30 a.m. – 12 noon
Valle Verde Theater | 900 Calle De Los Amigos, Santa Barbara
VISTAS member price: $30; non-member price $45

Presented by Norm Cohen
Today’s world is full of events that prompt us to throw up our hands and ask, “How can God allow such terrible things to happen to good people?” Scholars, theologians, philosophers, and writers have been addressing this enigma from before Biblical times down to the present. This presentation will examine the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament book of Job—one of the earliest writings to wrestle with the question (and most unsatisfactorily, judging by the number of books and articles that examine that book’s perspective)—and survey how some other thinkers, from ancient times to modern, have offered their own answers. Our discussion will unavoidably lead to questions about the nature of God and what we expect of him—but from a philosophical rather than religious perspective.