Making Sense Out of Suffering

Dr. Kreft admits to being Catholic, but he adequately explores other religions too. This is an intimate, soul-bearing companion. It's not for someone dying an intellectual study, although it is intellectually written. It's for people who need to know they aren't alone.

Book Review: Making Sense out of Suffering, by Peter Kreeft, Cincinnati, Servant Books, 1986, 184 pages. by Samuel A. Nigro,MD, retired psychiatrist, copyright c 2017 When suffering, joy is hard to find, to feel, to believe. The negative sensations loom large as punishment, darkness, despair, anger, bewilderment, pain, loss of function, loss of identity, loss of self, witnessing evil, and the monotony of spiritless matter. Suffering is the constriction into less being until you understand Peter Kreeft, a favorite of mine since discovering "The Transcendental Variables of All Being" (learned from Kreeft's other works: Living the Truth and Guide to Thomas Aquinas) and which I first presented in 1993 (1). To add to understanding suffering, I summarize: The Transcendental Variables of All Being--I call the first three the Catholic Trivium; and the last four are the Catholic Quadrivium.1. Ens (Latin)—the being, i.e., what has existence.2. Res (Latin)—the corporeal body or matter, i.e. the confluence of the being with matter completing it. It is the most visible dimension for those in the material world. In nature, nature rules, neurochemistry and all, on how the being manifests itself in nature. Bodies are needed to relate. They are our physical being by which men interact with all.3. Aliquid (Latin)—the identity or form of the being, i.e. the confluence of the being with its essence—for humans, not ethnicity, not color, nor anything but humanbeingness—the total embracing of humanity for us—in a word “catholic”—all for and with all.4. Verum (Latin)--the truth of the being, i.e. the confluence of the being with reality and not fantasy—or for us humans, the confluence with real life and not television shows, movies, magazines, newspapers or figments of imagination from oneself or others.5. Unum (Latin)—the oneness of the being, i.e. the confluence of the being with itself and all desirability related to it: its integrated, whole entirety, including family, community, country, world, universe.6. Bonum (Latin)—the good of the being, i.e. the confluence of the being with proper function in nature, or for mental beings, with proper choice in Natural Law (or Rational Environmentalism).7. Bellezza (“bella”) (Italian...preferred by the author to the Latin “pulchritude” for multicultural reasons)—the beauty of the being, i.e. its confluence with ascendancy or the “bringing out the best of itself and all around it. “ Because of what I learned from Kreeft before, his book on "suffering" rang true,one, good and beautiful because the negatives intrinsic to suffering were projected into spirituality beyond material and physical misfortune. In Making Sense out of Suffering, Kreeft poignantly clears the mind, not an easy task, but comforting and intriguingly done Socrates style, another intellectual delight from the author. The confluence of my Statimuum with Kreeft completes his efforts in my mind. The timelessness alluded so many times at Mass and in the Gospel confirms the transient transcendence which will recompress us by suffering into the Eternity of the pre-Big Bang required by contemporary physics. The Immediacy of all positives ever, will be immediate in the timeless spaceless unrestricted Act of Thinking we know as God as suffering turns into sacrifice and success. Kreeft's Making Sense out of Suffering makes that clear as suffering becomes joy.REFERENCES:(1) Samuel A. Nigro, MD, “Male/Female Differences in Natural Law”, Society of Catholic Social Scientists, First Annual Conference, 1993.

(4.5 *'s) Followers of Peter Kreeft's books have known for a long time now how deftly he is able to take difficult, yet lofty subject matter and make it accessible to the reader's heart and mind. In his excellent 1986 book, `Making Sense of Suffering' he again takes the most poignant and mysterious of human topics and brings some clarity and comfort to those willing to take the 184 page sojourn.Not entirely different from Benedict Groeshel's 'Arise from Darkness,' Professor Kreeft starts out by sorting out Rabbi Kushner's `When Bad Things Happen to Good People,` and illustrates what he finds laudable and what parts he is at issue. Kreeft, a skillful alchemist, draws upon the Bible, psychology, literature, and philosophy to illustrate his points and counter arguments in a very smooth and laudable fashion. Just as an overview, some of his biggest references come from C.S. Lewis, Dostoyevski, Plato, Freud, and the Prophets. People with a cursory understanding of any of these figures should note that he paves the way of understanding for even the uninitiated.His major premise is that life is filled with suffering. Like all mysteries there are aspects that are inscrutable, and he is at a loss to explain some of its ramifications. Aside from these necessary limitations, his work is to try and make something we find dreary and daunting into something that is meaningful and livable. His assertions and examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but they are nourishing, nevertheless.While most of the passages are well integrated from premise to illustration, he also uses the technique of dialogue between himself and a prospective reader. The exchange while lively and blunt, sometimes makes the personified reader sound whiney, even if he (or she) does embody common concerns.`Making Sense of Suffering' is written from the Catholic Christian perspective, but being the apologist he is, he is able to make a work that is inviting to people of a wide spectrum of faiths. Having taken the journey, I find myself refreshed with the ideas he has presented in this wise and illuminating book.

I read this book in two sessions. It is captivating. Knowing Professor Kreeft I should have guessed the answer. No spoilers from me. It is a lot to think about. If you read it I hope you enjoy the journey and it helps you if you have questions.

I am a fan of Dr. Peter Kreeft. I have read a number of his books, listened to his lectures, and I still have several of his books in my (too large) "to read" bookcase. This brief book is one of his best. I appreciate his very thoughtful, creative, and well informed but humble approach to his thorny problem. Suffering: No matter what we believe about suffering, we are all in this suffering and pain-inflicting world together. We all suffer. And if we believe in a good and powerful God who somehow, to whatever degree, oversees this world and claims to care about His creatures, we have a problem, a tension that we need to examine. Dr. Kreeft does not give easy answers to the problem, but he examines suffering from a number of different perspectives, "clues" to meaning in the face of suffering. In so doing he dismisses the easy answers and constructs a much more nuanced, complex but satisfying approach. He also has some excellent comments about the difficulty that we "moderns" have with suffering. Get this book. Read it. I have bought several copies and given them out to people.

Happy with the book selected and the way the topic is covered.I highly recommend it.

Great book which I enjoyed and excellent service.

It provides a lot of inspiration and good reference to make sense of suffering with good reference of philosophical and Christian approaches.

The book answers not only the questions of suffering but God's love and plan for eternity..The perspective changes with thought and idea and turns to enormous love and joy for matters higher in greater God's plan for your life

When Dr. Peter Krieft writes any book I read and I learn and when he speaks, I listen. He has been a tremendous help to me in increasing my spirtitual life by his easily understable explanation of our Christian walk with God. I am extremely grateful to Dr. Kreeft for all the inspirational b ooks he has written - he writes in a fashion that a layman can understand and absorb. Mrs Laura Smith

I am reading "Making Sense Out of Suffering" by Peter Kreeft and find it to be very interesting. Sometimes, I have to read the sentences twice because there is deep philosophy and theology in it, but it is helping me to understand suffering better. I have not read to the end yet, but already I am seeing that suffering can be beneficial to your soul. The problem Kreeft still has to deal with is why some people have to suffer so much more than others. He states that he has four premises in the book: 1. God is omniscient, 2. God is omnipotent. 3. God is good. and 4. There is evil. Evil and suffering are mysteries that lead many people to bitterness, conversely, they can also mellow people and make them better. Even if Kreeft has the best philosophy and theology in the world, to my mind evil and suffering will always be thorny mysteries. My great nephew had leukaemia when he was just two years old. How does that square with a good God? I'll read the rest of the book and see if Kreeft can clarify issues like this.