Assignment Task:
Based on Kate Bowler's book Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I've Loved)
"Finding God in all things" is one of the key components of Ignatian spirituality. In narrating her experience of cancer diagnosis and treatment, Kate Bowler argues that a belief that "Everything happens for a reason" (and that God is or supplies that reason) can generate harmful theology.
1. Thinking like a theologian, is it possible for you to reconcile these two statements?
2. Do you think (or how do you think) a person could "find God in all things" without making God responsible for tragedy or making a person's faith or lack of faith the source of their suffering?
3. What theological arguments would you use to answer objections like Bowler's, and how would you present them?