Which 1942 C.S. Lewis book examines why suffering exists?

The Problem of Pain is C.S. Lewis’s 1942 book examining why suffering exists.

Published during World War II, the book is a work of Christian apologetics that considers pain, human freedom, divine goodness, hell, and the possibility of heaven. Lewis approaches suffering as a philosophical and theological problem rather than as a personal diary of bereavement.

That distinction matters because readers often confuse The Problem of Pain with A Grief Observed. The former was published in 1942 as a reasoned exploration of suffering; the latter appeared anonymously in 1961 after Joy Davidman’s death and records Lewis’s personal anguish.

The book does not claim that pain is pleasant or insignificant. Instead, Lewis argues that suffering raises difficult questions about human desires, moral formation, and the nature of God. Its wartime publication helped establish Lewis as a major popular Christian writer.