American rabbi, Harold Kushner’s When Bad Things Happen to Good People is not simply a theological inquiry into theodicy—the problem of why a benevolent, omnipotent God allows suffering—but an emotional, deeply personal reflection born from the author’s own tragic experiences.
Drawing from the immense sorrow of losing his son to a rare genetic disorder, Kushner confronts universal questions: Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do the righteous suffer? And, most importantly, how should we respond when life seems unjust?
In this review, I offer an in-depth analysis of the book’s central ideas, deconstructing its philosophical underpinnings and examining its implications on human morality and suffering. This review is written from a personal perspective, reflecting a nuanced, intellectual engagement with the text.
Kushner begins his work with a brutally honest recounting of the devastation that comes from losing his son, Aaron.
He does not immediately offer theological platitudes or recite comforting scriptures. Instead, he acknowledges the deep unfairness of suffering and the helplessness that often accompanies it. The rawness of his account allows readers to immediately empathize with him and sets the tone for the book: this is not about finding simplistic answers but wrestling with a complex, age-old question.
The fact that When Bad Things Happen to Good People was birthed out of personal loss makes it more than just a theological treatise.
It’s an exploration of the emotional and spiritual turmoil that human beings face when confronted with tragedy. As Kushner writes, “When we have covered all the squares on the game board and are feeling very proud of our cleverness, the pain and the anguish and the sense of unfairness will still be there”.
Inerrability and willingness to admit uncertainty make the book particularly compelling for readers, especially those searching for solace during personal tragedies.
The Limits of Traditional Theodicy
In his exploration of why suffering exists, Kushner engages with the classical theological explanations: divine punishment, testing of faith, and the inscrutability of God’s will.
However, he ultimately rejects these explanations, finding them insufficient. This departure from traditional theology is one of the book’s most striking features. For instance, Kushner explains that attributing suffering to God’s will leads to a distorted image of a vindictive deity, something that is neither spiritually nor emotionally satisfying.
He noticed that religious people, in their attempt to maintain the idea of God’s absolute control, end up blaming the victims of suffering, which is, in essence, blaming the innocent.
Kushner bravely argues that God is not the author of our suffering. Instead, he posits that the world operates according to natural laws, and sometimes, bad things happen simply because we live in an imperfect world. Gravity does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked when it causes accidents, and disease does not avoid the pious.
Free Will vs. Law of Nature
One of the central ideas in Kushner’s work is the notion of human freedom and the limitations of God’s power. Kushner argues that free will is an essential part of human existence, but it comes with inherent risks. People are free to make decisions, and these decisions can lead to suffering for others. He posits that God, while compassionate and just, cannot always intervene without infringing upon this moral freedom. As a result, people sometimes choose to act selfishly or cruelly, leading to the kind of suffering we see in events like the Holocaust.
This point is both sobering and enlightening. It places the responsibility for much of the world’s evil squarely in the hands of human beings, rather than on God. However, Kushner does not offer this explanation as a way to absolve God of responsibility; instead, he presents it as a realistic appraisal of how the world works.
Suffering, he argues, does not always have a higher, divine purpose. Sometimes, as he writes, “bad luck just happens”.
God, as a Source of Strength, Not Control
One of the most revolutionary aspects of Kushner’s argument is his redefinition of God’s role in human suffering. Rather than being a being who controls every aspect of life, God becomes a source of strength and comfort. Kushner writes that God’s role is not to intervene in the laws of nature or to prevent bad things from happening but to provide the inner resources needed to cope with life’s inevitable pain. This is perhaps the most comforting message the we are not alone in our suffering, even if we cannot always find a reason for it.
The idea of God as a partner in our suffering, rather than a distant figure orchestrating it, is deeply personal and revolutionary. Kushner’s God is one who stands with humanity in times of hardship, offering solace and strength rather than judgment. It’s a vision of God that is particularly resonant in an age where many struggle to reconcile traditional religious beliefs with modern understandings of justice and morality.
In analyzing When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner, the book offers a profound exploration of suffering, God’s role, and how humans seek meaning. Kushner, writing from a deeply personal space after losing his son to progeria, presents a unique reflection on the philosophical and theological issues surrounding the problem of evil. Below is a detailed breakdown of key themes from an intellectual and deeply personal perspective:
Main Themes
The Problem of Evil
Kushner’s approach to the Problem of Evil reframes the classical view that God is both all-powerful and all-good. Rather than viewing suffering as a divine punishment or a test, Kushner suggests a more nuanced understanding: God does not cause suffering but stands alongside us in our pain. This is perhaps one of the most revolutionary ideas in his book. Traditional theology often insists that suffering must have a reason or divine purpose, but Kushner pushes back on this, asserting that not all suffering is part of God’s plan.
He writes: “I do not believe that God causes the bad things that happen to us. I do not believe that God sends us the problem of having a handicapped child or of losing a job or of dying of a degenerative disease.” Instead, suffering is a part of life’s randomness—a world where natural laws and human freedom create the potential for pain.
In the context of Kushner’s deeply personal exploration, the problem of evil is not a theoretical concept but a raw, lived experience.
Evil and suffering are depicted not as divine punishment but as inevitable parts of life. Kushner confronts the difficulty of reconciling a benevolent God with the existence of evil by asking, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” His son Aaron’s diagnosis with progeria, a rapidly ageing disease, led Kushner to abandon the simplistic view that suffering is the result of personal sin or divine retribution. In Chapter 1, he challenges the traditional belief that God orchestrates every event in the world, stating, “There is only one question which really matters: why do bad things happen to good people?”.
Kushner suggests that rather than seeing God as the cause of suffering, we should see God as a source of strength and resilience to face it.
Suffering and Meaning
In one of the most poignant reflections, Kushner acknowledges that finding meaning in suffering is deeply human, yet sometimes there is no meaning in the suffering itself. Rather, meaning is something we must create in response to the suffering. Kushner invites us to focus not on the “why” of suffering but on the “how” we can respond to it.
As he puts it, “The question we should be asking is not ‘Why did this happen to me?’ but ‘Now that this has happened, what am I going to do about it?’” This perspective allows us to take control of our reactions and cultivate resilience, rather than get stuck in unanswerable questions.
Kushner emphasizes that suffering lacks inherent meaning. He rejects the view that all suffering is part of a grand divine plan meant to teach us lessons. Instead, he believes that we impose meaning on suffering by how we respond to it. He writes, “I can see the possibility that suffering might make a person more sensitive, more understanding, but I cannot believe that a God who loves us would inflict that kind of pain to teach us lessons”.
This is not a book about glorifying suffering, but about grappling with its meaningless nature while still holding on to faith.
Suffering is not inherently meaningful, but our responses can create purpose and direction.
God’s Role in Suffering
One of the book’s most striking arguments is that God cannot prevent all suffering. Kushner portrays a God who is compassionate but limited in power. This shifts the traditional theological paradigm significantly. He writes: “God can’t do everything, but He can do some important things. He can’t control everything, but He can give us the strength to cope with the things He cannot control.”
In his exploration of why suffering exists, Kushner engages with the classical theological explanations: divine punishment, testing of faith, and the inscrutability of God’s will.
However, he ultimately rejects these explanations, finding them insufficient. This departure from traditional theology is one of the book’s most striking features. For instance, Kushner explains that attributing suffering to God’s will leads to a distorted image of a vindictive deity, something that is neither spiritually nor emotionally satisfying.
He noticed that religious people, in their attempt to maintain the idea of God’s absolute control, end up blaming the victims of suffering, which is, in essence, blaming the innocent.
Kushner bravely argues that God is not the author of our suffering. Instead, he posits that the world operates according to natural laws, and sometimes, bad things happen simply because we live in an imperfect world. Gravity does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked when it causes accidents, and disease does not avoid the pious. This radical thrashing as it portrays a God who is not a puppeteer controlling every misfortune but one who grieves alongside humanity.
This view presents God not as a puppeteer orchestrating every event but as a companion in our suffering. God’s role becomes one of empowerment, where He provides comfort, strength, and the resilience needed to navigate life’s inevitable hardships.
Instead of viewing God as an all-powerful being who micromanages every event in the universe, Kushner portrays God as a limited force who desires the good but cannot always prevent evil. He writes in chapter 7, “God does not send the problem, but gives us the strength to cope with the problem”. This shift reframes God not as a divine orchestrator of suffering but as a compassionate companion during times of hardship.
Kushner argues for a compassionate but limited God, whose role is to offer comfort rather than control. I like when he says “we cannot ask God in prayer to do something which is within our power, so as to spare us the chore of doing it” and I would like to cite the entire passage of Jack Riemer that he quotes:
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end war;
For we know that You have made the world in a way
That man must find his own path to peace
Within himself and with his neighbor.We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end starvation;
For you have already given us the resources
With which to feed the entire world
If we would only use them wisely.We cannot merely pray to You, O God,
To root out prejudice,
For You have already given us eyes
With which to see the good in all men
If we would only use them rightly.We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end despair,
For You have already given us the power
To clear away slums and to give hope
If we would only use our power justly.We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end disease,
For you have already given us great minds with which
To search out cures and healing,
If we would only use them constructively.Therefore we pray to You instead, O God,
For strength, determination, and willpower,
To do instead of just to pray,
To become instead of merely to wish
Community Support
Kushner highlights the importance of community and human connection in helping individuals cope with their suffering. He notes how others’ presence, care, and listening ears often play a more pivotal role than theological explanations in alleviating pain.
“God is present in the kindness and support of other people,” Kushner emphasizes. This suggests that while divine intervention might not come in the form of miraculous healings, it often manifests through the empathy and solidarity of community members, who offer a shoulder to lean on in times of hardship.
A recurring theme in Kushner’s work is the importance of community in confronting suffering. He emphasizes that when we are overwhelmed by pain, it is often those around us who help us cope, rather than divine intervention. “The comforting presence of friends and loved ones can often be the best proof of God’s existence,” Kushner writes (Chapter 8). The human connection becomes a vital source of strength, offering the support that theology sometimes cannot.
Community and human compassion are central in helping us endure suffering, more so than theological answers.
Personal Stories and Experiences
The strength of When Bad Things Happen to Good People lies in its personal narratives, particularly Kushner’s own experience with his son Aaron’s illness.
He presents his raw emotions of grief, anger, and confusion, making the theological questions deeply human rather than abstract. This personal connection to the suffering gives the book its emotional power.
Reflecting on his own pain, Kushner writes: “I was a young, inexperienced rabbi, not as familiar with the process of grief as I would later come to be, and what I mostly felt that day was a deep, aching sense of unfairness.” His honesty about grappling with God and faith is relatable to anyone who has faced tragedy.
His grief is not abstract but intensely personal, and his intellectual explorations are born out of the pain of that experience.
He shares his journey from anger at God to a more nuanced understanding of suffering, saying, “How could this be happening to my family? If God existed…how could He do this to me?” he states in the Introduction. Kushner’s vulnerability makes his book resonate on a personal level, and his willingness to question traditional religious answers makes it unique.
Personal experience of loss and suffering serves as the foundation for Kushner’s reflections, making his work emotionally grounded and relatable.
Philosophical Reflections
Kushner engages with classical theological and philosophical traditions but breaks away from them by suggesting that suffering does not always have a divine cause. Philosophically, this opens up space for a view of God that is neither omnipotent nor indifferent, but deeply caring and involved in human life, even if unable to prevent all harm.
He frequently challenges the traditional just-world hypothesis or just world fallacy—the belief that good things happen to good people and bad things to bad people. Kushner concludes that the world doesn’t always operate on a moral balance and that randomness is an inherent part of life.
Philosophically, Kushner engages with the age-old debate between divine omnipotence and human suffering. He grapples with the contradictions inherent in traditional religious teachings that depict God as both all-powerful and all-good. Instead of accepting these contradictions, Kushner redefines God’s power, suggesting that God can’t do everything. This humility in the face of suffering is contrasted with the hubris of trying to explain away evil with simple theological formulas.
Kushner offers a philosophical reflection that departs from classical theodicy, embracing the idea of a God who is loving but not omnipotent.
Practical Advice for Coping
Kushner’s practical advice centers on shifting the focus from “why” to “what now?”. He encourages readers to stop seeking explanations for their suffering and instead look for ways to live meaningful, fulfilling lives despite their pain. The act of making peace with one’s suffering, rather than resisting it, becomes central to his advice.
He emphasizes: “The experience of being comforted by God, by faith, and by people around us is more important than understanding why we suffer.” This encourages individuals to find solace in connection, action, and presence rather than intellectual answers.
Kushner’s practical advice for coping with suffering is rooted in acceptance rather than theological rationalization. He encourages readers to stop asking Why me? and to focus instead on finding meaning in their responses to suffering. He advises, “The wrong question is, ‘Why did this happen?’ The right question is, ‘What can I do now that it has happened?'”. This perspective encourages agency and resilience, empowering individuals to find their own path through pain.
Kushner rejects the notion that suffering is caused or ordained by God, he does not dismiss the possibility of finding meaning in suffering.
He emphasizes the importance of human response to tragedy, urging readers to “redeem these tragedies from senselessness by imposing meaning on them”. In other words, it is not suffering itself inherent meaning, but rather the way in which individuals choose to respond to it.
Further for Kushner, the ultimate meaning of suffering is found in love, community, and resilience. One of the book’s most poignant moments comes when Kushner reflects on the story of Job, the biblical figure who loses everything yet refuses to curse God.
Instead of offering Job a satisfying explanation for his suffering, God challenges Job to continue living despite the tragedies he has endured. Similarly, Kushner calls on readers to focus on what they can control—how they respond to suffering—rather than seeking impossible answers to the question of “why.”
Rather than seeking theological explanations for suffering, Kushner advocates for practical coping mechanisms based on resilience and action.
These reflections offer a new intellectual and emotional lens through which to view Kushner’s work, emphasizing human resilience, the randomness of suffering, and the reimagined role of a compassionate yet limited God.
When Kushner in When Bad Things Happen to Good People, tackles the problem of suffering from a theological perspective, proposing that not all suffering is caused by divine will, Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning approaches suffering from an existential psychological standpoint, and Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking takes a somewhat different approach by focusing on the power of mindset. Peale argues that much of human suffering can be alleviated or minimized through the practice of positive thinking and faith.
Conclusion
Kushner proposes in When Bad Things Happen to Good People God as Companion, Not Controller that offers an insightful, comforting take on the nature of suffering that doesn’t rely on trite theological answers.
Instead, it provides a path forward by suggesting that God is present in our lives not as a controller of events but as a compassionate companion who offers strength to face suffering. This reimagining of God’s role in a world full of pain invites readers to seek resilience, community, and, ultimately, peace.
By sharing his personal story, he invites readers into a shared journey of questioning, grieving, and ultimately, healing. Kushner’s intellectual humility, emotional honesty, and emphasis on practical action make his book a deeply human response to life’s toughest questions.
