Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

Book Reviews: Michael Berry

ON A RECENT television news bulletin a distraught resident of Port au Prince in Haiti faced the camera to declare that, “I have lost my wife and my children. I only have God now”.

The horrific earthquake in Haiti and the 2004 tsunami that devastated coastlines to our north, are only two natural events that many still see as ‘acts of God’.

History reflects these tragedies many times where whole societies are bewildered and disorientated by rampant death and destruction. Inevitably it seems, people turn to their gods for the who and why of such events.

It was not until 1906, when San Francisco was wrecked and set ablaze by a giant earthquake that a different explanation was given, and God was taken out of the equation. The governor of California set up a commission of enquiry of scientists to work out what had taken place. The final report was a classic of modern geology, and it defined a 1300km-long fracture in the earth’s crust that they named the San Andreas Fault. God was not in the report.

Mind you, scientific explanations for natural catastrophes have not stopped faith-based thinking on such events. Despite the science, Pentecostalists in 1906 believed their earthquake was evidence of ‘God’s vehement disapproval’.

Retired Anglican priest and academic Ray Barraclough has tackled this complex issue in a book called Why -how to explain life’s tragic experiences.

Ray Barraclough’s book essentially traces the who and what of earthly calamity including diseases such as epilepsy.

The religious and supernatural causes stretch from the multitude of deities to the stars. He acknowledges that Christians have always approached God with the difficult questions. For example, if God is omnipotent and all loving why doesn’t he stop catastrophes occurring, and why does he let people go through such prolonged suffering?

Rarely in the book though does this former priest reveal a conflict between his own belief in an omniscient God and scientific explanations for disasters. But he does display a very open mind on the matter. For example, on illness he says, ‘There are too many people whose suffering has been relieved, or even removed, by modern medical procedures for me to be so dismissive of people’s belief in modern medicine’s capacity to affect what is within its claims to affect’.

Ray Barraclough inclines towards the social justice core of liberation theology which is where he comes close to his Catholic colleague and rebel priest, Peter Kennedy. Like Kennedy, he is wary of Church dogma and fundamentalism: “There is a need for alternative Christian voices to speak softly of God in the midst of resurgent strident expressions of faith.”

It is in his final chapter that Ray Barraclough focuses on the Why of his book. When nature becomes destructive of life and ‘the brook becomes a destroying flood’ it is Ray’s view that ‘in the face of these dimensions of nature, hymns of praise sound heartless.’

When tragedy strikes, Ray asks, what use are words, religious or otherwise?

Grief is intensely personal and Ray acknowledges that ‘God-talk’ is manifestly inappropriate and a hangover from past theology.

Ray Barraclough’s book Why is a fascinating insight into the role of calamity in our lives. We humans want certainty despite the scary randomness of horrific events. Many will not go as far as Richard Dawkins to claim that God is a delusion, but Ray recognises that within the underbelly of theology: “…pious explanations will tend to make the floor more slippery”.

Ray feels on more solid ground with the message of liberation theology where he sees social justice as the very core of the Christian gospel in action. It may not be the total answer to why but, “No explanation can repair the fractured faith so damaged by the realities of experience”.

Ray Barraclough is now a Hinterland resident who will join rebel Catholic priest, Peter Kennedy in a community conversation on Wed March 17, 6.00pm in the Maleny Community Centre. Bookings at Rosetta Books. These two thought-provoking clerics will explore the relevance of God in a contemporary world that must cope with the Haiti earthquake, AIDS, global warming and other natural and man-made calamities.