Suffering

The ancient Greek claim that philosophy begins in wonder has a counterpart in the perennial question of why there is suffering in the world. The world’s religions and other systems of thought cannot bypass this question. Suffering cannot be eliminated from human experience. The Bible’s texts are alert to the manifold forms that suffering can take, and are often unflinching in giving voice to it—as these exhibitions show. They do not explain it away. But they also, usually, retain their capacity for wonderment—and sometimes for hope in the face of affliction.