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The biblical books of Isaiah and Revelation describe a day when there will be “new heavens and new earth,” where evil will no longer be present. Until then, however, humanity will be forced to deal with the fallout of evil and will wonder why bad things happen to good people.

Bishop N.T. Wright, a theologian, author, and Anglican bishop of Durham, England, explores the impact of evil in the world and what it means to Christianity in Evil and the Justice of God, a new book from InterVarsity Press that is scholarly yet written in the bishop’s uniquely conversational, easy to grasp language.

The topic of evil became headline news in 2001 after terrorists crashed airliners into the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, the bishop said in a recent interview from Chicago, where he was lecturing.

After the attacks, President Bush declared the existence of an “axis of evil” and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the task of politicians is to rid the world of evil.

“This new crusade against evil was hitting the news politically just at the time I was intending to write about the meaning of the cross,” Bishop Wright said.

Another form of evil made headlines in December, 2004, when a tsunami wiped out coastal areas of southeast Asia, killing more than 200,000 people. And in August, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region.

Bishop Wright said that as he was preparing to write about Jesus’ crucifixion, he found he had to address the problem of evil in this world. And evil was “a timely, not to say urgent, topic,” he said.

It’s not that evil is new, but the issue is usually avoided until people are “struck in the face” by it, either on a large scale like the terrorist attacks or the tsunami, or through personal crises, he said.

“I think that’s been a feature of our western culture,” Bishop Wright said. “We assume that we now have a modern culture that has overcome evil for the most part, and we are going to be all right, have happy families and nice jobs and live in peace. Then something comes along and it’s almost an offense to our sensibilities that there are wicked people who want to do harmful things to us.”

In reality, Britain and the United States “have been doing nasty things to people for quite some time, and we justify it by saying we are spreading peace and freedom,” Bishop Wright said. “We British used to do that in the 19th century, and people in other parts of the world hate us deeply. I hope Americans don’t have to face the same post-imperialism fallout.”

He said the West’s reaction to the terrorist attacks, labeling it as a battle of good versus evil, has been superficial.

“Let’s be quite clear: The response to 9/11 has been immature. We can’t just sit around with focus groups and pat each other on the back and say we’re all nice fellows. There’s a global system of justice and we need to deal with real evil where it is, not just the ‘tip of the iceberg stuff’ when terrorists fly planes into buildings.

“We have to look at the factors that lead people to do such things to attain their goals. ... There are reasons why a lot of people in the world really do hate my country and yours. We have to be careful, look ourselves in the mirror. Are there things the West has done that really serve our own interests to the detriment of others? In the end, yes, we have done some wicked things.”

Although Bishop Wright incorporates political and news events, the primary focus of Evil and the Justice of God is theological in nature.

How can a loving God allow horrible things to happen in a world he created and described as “good”?

The bishop categorizes evil into two basic types: natural and moral.

Natural evil is represented by events like tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Moral evil is evident in acts of terrorism, genocide, sexual abuse, corruption, etc.

In exploring biblical accounts of evil, Bishop Wright said western philosophers want explanations, but the Bible instead “tells the story of what God has done, is doing, and will do about evil.”

The explanation for why God allows “radical evil” in his “wonderful, beautiful, and essentially good creation” remains a mystery, Bishop Wright said.

“One day I think we shall find out, but I believe we are incapable of understanding it at the moment, in the same way that a baby in the womb would lack the categories to think about the outside world,” he said.

While the Bible promises that someday evil will not exist, in the meantime Christians should not give up and accept evil but should work toward the goal of eliminating it from Earth, the bishop said. The answer is the cross, Bishop Wright said.

Jesus came to Earth to die for humanity’s sins, and his crucifixion shows how to deal with evil, Bishop Wright said.

“God’s forgiveness of us, and our forgiveness of others, is the knife that cuts the rope by which sin, anger, fear, recrimination, and death are still attached to us,” he writes in the conclusion to Evil and the Justice of God. “Evil will have nothing to say at the last, because the victory of the cross will be fully implemented.”

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