Theology in a Suffering World

Christopher Southgate is Associate Professor in Interdisciplinary Theology at the University of Exeter. Trained originally as a biochemist, he is still involved in origin of life research and is known in the science-religion debate for his edited textbook, and his monograph on suffering in evolution, The Groaning of Creation (2008). This book is a sequel to Groaning, but it also builds on Southgate's career as a poet, in which he has won a Hawthornden Fellowship and published eight collections, and his experience as principal of a theological training scheme, and as a spiritual director and retreat conductor.

• 1. Glory as sign: relation of glory to beauty and wonder; 2. Glory in the Scriptures; 3. Glory in the natural world; 4. Glory in the arts and in mysticism; 5. Glory in the Christian journey.

'What Southgate has attempted here is nothing less than courageous; whether he has succeeded will be up to the reader. I would recommend Theology in a Suffering World to all those who are interested in theodicy, suffering and impassibility, and the vexing question of natural and moral evil in the Christian life. Southgate's work should be commended as an honest look at difficult issues and indeed is an engaging contribution to theological studies concerning glory and suffering; it can be approached by theologians and ministers alike.' Brent McCulley, International Journal of Systematic Theology