What is the title of C.S. Lewis’s 1942 book about human suffering?

The Problem of Pain is C.S. Lewis’s 1942 book about human suffering and the challenge it poses to belief in a good and powerful God.

Lewis examines topics including divine omnipotence, human freedom, sin, pain, and the possibility of hell. He presents a reasoned theological argument rather than a personal diary of bereavement. The book was written before Lewis experienced the death of his wife, Joy Davidman.

Readers sometimes confuse it with A Grief Observed, which Lewis published in 1961 after Davidman’s death. The two books address suffering from very different perspectives: The Problem of Pain is a formal work of Christian apologetics, while A Grief Observed records the emotional and spiritual disorientation of personal loss. The distinction is important when identifying Lewis’s writings on suffering.