Wrestling with Existence: Pondering Suffering and Grace in Lila

How does belief in God withstand the assault of life's sorrows? If God exists, why does existence itself seem to speak against divine benevolence and omnipotence? While these questions animate theological and philosophical discourse on the problem of evil, they also appear in other contexts, particularly literature. Marilynne Robinson's acclaimed Gilead saga—Gilead, Home, and Lila—functions as a literary meditation on suffering and grace. In Lila, the lead character, Lila, filters the question of theodicy through the prism of her life experiences and begins an extended conversation about it with a minister, Reverend John Ames, whom she eventually marries. Together, they wrestle with the meaning of existence, mutually illuminating their lifelong struggles with the question. In this essay, I will frame the problem of evil from Lila's perspective, explore five facets of it from her experience, and analyze the open spaces it creates for theological and philosophical discourse on theodicy.