This is not a perfect world. Pain, suffering, and injustice are a part of every life, every day. So how do we respond to such suffering? Perhaps more importantly, how do we survive such tragedy when it feels that God has abandoned us? Dr. Brady will reflect upon his own academic research into biblical responses to tragedy and upon his personal loss of his son Mack and consider how we can understand and know the presence of our loving and just God in the midst of a cruel and unjust world.

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Christian Brady, A&S ’92 majored in History and Near Eastern Studies and was the first Cornellian to graduate with a minor in Religious Studies. He completed an MA in Biblical and Theological Studies from Wheaton College, a graduate diploma in Jewish Studies and a DPhil in Ancient Hebrew and Jewish Literature from Oxford University. He was at Tulane University for 9 years as an assistant and associate professor of Jewish Studies, director of Jewish Studies for 6 years and director of the Honors Program for 2 years. He is an associate professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Jewish Studies at Penn State University where he is also the Dean of the Schreyer Honors College.

Christian and his wife Elizabeth are the parents of two wonderful children, Izzy and Mack. Mack died suddenly on New Year’s Eve 2012 of a blood infection. Their reflections on loss and faith can be found at http://MackBrady.com/