b'Rena Schild / Shutterstock.comAs a result of belief in both divine retribution and divine suff ering, interpreting the God of Israel within the Hebrew Scriptures sometimes produced confl icting perceptions of God that provoked many questions in relation to suff ering. One scholar suggests the question that looms largest is that of Gods own character, of who God is, especially in light of who we, in pain, think we want God to be. 6This question is the backdrop against which the Christian Scriptures engage the mystery of God and suff ering.This article is an excerpt from If God Gloria L. Schaab, SSJ, is Is for Us: Christian Perspectivesprofessor of theology, chair of on God and Suff ering, by Gloriathe department of theology and L. Schaab (Winona, MN: Anselmphilosophy, and associate dean Academic 2016). Copyright2016 byfor general education at Barry Anselm Academic. All rights reserved. University in Miami Shores, Florida.1. Robin Ryan, God and the Mystery of Human Suffering (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2011), 51. 2. See Daniel J. Harrington, Why Do We Suffer? A Scriptural Approach to the Human Condition (Franklin, WI: Sheed and Ward, 2000), 186.3. Erhard Gerstenberger and Wolfgang Schrage, Suffering, trans. John E. Steely (Nashville: Abingdon, 1980), 99.4. Terence Fretheim, The Suffering of God: An Old Testament Perspective (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), 108, emphasis added.5. Ibid., 140.6. Jason A. Mahn, Between Presence and Explanation: Thinking through Suffering with Thomas Long, Theology Today 69 (July 2012): 229.Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.ARTICLE 9'