Includes bibliographical references (p. [637]-651) and index.

Suffering, theodicy, and defense -- Philosophy and narrative -- Narrative as a means of knowledge : Francis and Dominic -- Narrative and the knowledge of persons -- The nature of love -- Union, presence, and omnipresence -- Willed loneliness -- Other-worldly redemption -- The story of Job : suffering and the second-personal -- The story of Samson : self-destroying evil -- The story of Abraham : the desires of the heart -- The story of Mary of Bethany : heartbrokenness and shame -- Theodicy in another world -- What we care about : the desires of the heart -- The defense of the defense : suffering, flourishing, and the desires of the heart.

Can one hold, consistently with the common view of suffering in the world, that there is an omniscient, omnipotent, perfectly good God? This book argues that one can. Wandering in Darkness first presents the moral psychology and value theory within which one typical traditional theodicy, namely, that of Thomas Aquinas, is embedded. It explicates Aquinas's account of the good for human beings, including the nature of love and union among persons. Eleonore Stump also makes use of developments in neurobiology and developmental psychology to illuminate the nature of such union. --from publisher description

Description based on print version record.