In the Christian understanding, suffering is, to borrow the software programmer’s phrase, a feature, not a bug. It is not an inexplicable fact about the human condition, nor an embarrassment to Christian theology that the tradition would prefer to distract us from. On the contrary, the tradition puts the reality of suffering front and center, and insists that it is an inevitable consequence of original and actual sin.
© 2022 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org
The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.
The Christian way of suffering
Edward Feser
Thursday, June 2, 2022