Which 1940 book by C.S. Lewis examines Christian suffering and divine goodness?

The Problem of Pain is C.S. Lewis’s 1940 book examining Christian suffering and divine goodness.

Published in 1940, The Problem of Pain is a work of Christian apologetics that asks how suffering can exist if God is good, powerful, and loving. Lewis discusses topics including human freedom, divine omnipotence, sin, hell, and the meaning of pain.

The book is an analytical theological argument rather than a personal diary. That distinction matters because readers sometimes confuse it with A Grief Observed, which Lewis wrote after Joy Davidman’s death and which records his own experience of bereavement.

Lewis’s treatment of suffering reflects traditional Christian ideas while presenting them in accessible prose. It became one of his most frequently read apologetic works and helped establish his reputation as a popular Christian essayist.