Out of the storm: grappling with God in the book of Job

Do we live in a well-run world?

Christopher Ash's new book Out of the Storm: Grappling with God in the book of Job, addresses some of the pressing issues about suffering that many of us face today.

In this extract Christopher introduces the book, its themes and the dilemmas it presents us with.

This book began as a series of sermons on the book of Job. 12 days before the first sermon, on January 14 2003, Detective Constable Stephen Oake was stabbed and killed in Manchester. Why? He was an upright man, a faithful husband and a loving father. What is more, he was a Christian, a committed member of his church, where he sometimes used to preach. The newspapers reported the moving statement by his father, Robin Oake, a former chairman of the Christian Police Association; how he said through his tears that he was praying for the man who killed his son. They told of the quiet dignity of his widow Lesley, and the happy family snapshots with his teenage son Christopher and daughters Rebecca and Corinne.