Creation Untamed – The Bible, God, and Natural Disasters

"In Creation Untamed, Terry Fretheim adjusts his goggles and dives headfirst into the swirling storm of practical biblical and theological questions that we all ask about God, tragedy, and suffering. Fretheim admits that the Bible cannot provide all the answers. Mysteries remain. Yet Fretheim skillfully guides the reader through the dark and choppy waters of theology and suffering, suggesting helpful ways to move and warning against less promising ways of understanding. This book is deeply biblical, highly practical, and richly theological. Highly recommended!"---Dennis Olson, Princeton Theological Seminary

"There is no issue in contemporary faith more vexing than how we are to understand God's will and action in the event of natural disasters like tsunamis and hurricanes, wildfires and floods. Fortunately for readers, there is no more reliable guide for thinking biblically about these issues than Terence Fretheim. In this thoughtful and compact volume, Fretheim helps us not only to see clearly our own created vulnerability but also to encounter biblical testimony to a God who becomes vulnerable with us."---Bruce C. Birch, Wesley Theological Seminary

"Who better than Fretheim to take up the hard contemporary question concerning the destructive forces on exhibit in creation! The author has spent his life thinking about these issues and reading these old texts forward toward our time and place. He begins with the conviction of the goodness of God's creation, and from there he launches into the dangers of reality and takes us with him."---Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary

"Terence Fretheim explores the biblical materials to grapple with the devastation of natural disasters. He encourages readers to reconsider their traditional understanding of the relationship between God and suffering. I enthusiastically recommend Creation Untamed to all who want to be honest with the Bible and with life."---Tremper Longman III, Westmont College

Terence E. Fretheim (ThD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Elva B. Lovell Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he has taught for over fifty years. He is the author of more than twenty books, including commentaries on Genesis, Exodus, 1 and 2 Kings, and Jeremiah.

"In Creation Untamed , Terry Fretheim adjusts his goggles and dives head first into the swirling storm of practical biblical and theological questions that we all ask about God, tragedy, and suffering. Fretheim admits that the Bible cannot provide all the answers. Mysteries remain. Yet Fretheim skillfully guides the reader through the dark and choppy waters of theology and suffering, suggesting helpful ways to move and warning against less promising ways of understanding. This book is deeply biblical, highly practical, and richly theological. Highly recommended!"-- Dennis Olson , Princeton Theological Seminary"There is no issue in contemporary faith more vexing than how we are to understand God's will and action in the event of natural disasters such as tsunamis and hurricanes, wildfires and floods. Fortunately for readers, there is no more reliable guide for thinking biblically about these issues than Terence Fretheim. In this thoughtful and compact volume, Fretheim helps us not only to see clearly our own created vulnerability but also to encounter biblical testimony to a God who becomes vulnerable with us."-- Bruce C. Birch , Wesley Theological Seminary"Who better than Fretheim to take up the hard contemporary question concerning the destructive forces on exhibit in creation! The author has spent his life thinking about these issues and reading these old texts forward toward our time and place. He begins with the conviction of the goodness of God's creation, and from there he launches into the dangers of reality and takes us with him."-- Walter Brueggemann , Columbia Theological Seminary"Terence Fretheim explores the biblical materials to grapple with the devastation of natural disasters. He encourages readers to reconsider their traditional understanding of the relationship between God and suffering. I enthusiastically recommend Creation Untamed to all who want to be honest with the Bible and with life."-- Tremper Longman III , Westmont College

Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, and hurricanes have plagued the history of the earth. What is God's role in natural disasters and the human suffering they cause? This is one of the most vexing questions in Christian life and theology. Terence Fretheim offers fresh readings of familiar Old Testament passages--such as creation, the flood, and the suffering of Job--to give readers biblical resources for working through this topic. He shows the God of the Bible to be a compassionate, suffering, relational God, one we can turn to in prayer in times of disaster.

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