While I thouroughly enjoyed the book, and agree with the points Dr. Ehrman makes, I am not sure that this book would influence a reader of alternative persuasions. Basically, a person with strongly held views about the benevolence of God isn’t probably going to like this book or get much from it. That is simply the nature of theological arguments. But, I could be wrong.

I found this book to be extremely well-organized and approachable for people on all levels of Biblical scholarship. I really appreciated his commitment to painting pictures of the world’s vast suffering, bringing it to the consciousness of an audience that doesn’t have much experience in it as compared to the rest of the world. Even if a reader doesn’t agree with his conclusions, I believe it would be difficult to dispute his presentation of the various viewpoints, and they are worth reading if you’re interested in thinking more about why people suffer.