Introduction: Facing the mystery -- The Hebrew scriptures : suffering and the God of the covenant -- New Testament perspectives on suffering -- Early Christian sources -- Thomas Aquinas : God acting to dispel misery -- Julian of Norwich : all shall be well -- Two voices from the Shoah -- Jürgen Moltmann : theology from the pit -- Edward Schillebeeckx : holding on to the hand of God -- Gustavo Gutiérrez : the suffering of the poor -- Elizabeth Johnson : suffering and hope from a feminist perspective -- Toward a theology of God and suffering