“Instruments in God’s hands”: American Protestant attitudes to suffering, 1908-1955
Date
2014-09-03
Authors
Gibbard, Judith
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Abstract
From 1908 to 1955, readers of conservative Protestant journals (Moody publications and The Sunday School Times) and more mainline journals (Zion’s Herald and Christian Herald), both asked questions about God’s role in suffering. In turn, writers for each of the journals responded by asserting that even if suffering did not seem to make immediate sense that it would one day make sense. While both conservatives and more mainline journals described suffering as being ultimately beneficial, views of why humans suffered were relayed in the most punitive terms in conservative journals. However, with regard to how one was to suffer, it was mainline writers who appeared a great deal harsher. Further, mainline views of how one was to suffer were gendered and made men the model for suffering.
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Keywords
Protestant, conservative, suffering, God