Grotesque in the Garden

by Hud Hudson, Michael Rea (Foreword)

After several millennia living as a lone sentinel in the Garden of Eden, the angel Tesque is contemplating leaving his post in rebellion against God. Meanwhile, in another time and place, a professor of mathematics isolates herself in remote Iceland as she finds herself increasingly at odds with society. The connection between these two characters? A letter, a sentient dog, and a deep-seated resistance to the demands of love.  A Grotesque in the Garden  is a philosophical tale that addresses some of theology’s thorniest problems, including the questions of divinely permitted evil, divine hiddenness, and divine deception, couching them in narrative form for greater accessibility to students and general readers. While Hudson’s story ultimately vindicates the virtue of obedience to God, it never shies away from critiques of troublesome theological positions.  This second edition contains an appendix with commentary, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading.

Genres: Fiction, Philosophy, Christianity

168 pages, Paperback

Published June 23, 2020

Reviews

[Vagabond of Letters, DLitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10

Very weird book. Don't really know what to think about it. It's definitely very, very thought-provoking, so high rating. Kind of infuriating at times. Ending is basically just a prompt for further analysis.

This strikes me not as fiction with a message but as analytic theology in the key of Plato, if not as well written as the dialogues, basically being two opposed journal entries. The themes are defining love and sin, divine hiddenness and silence, and the possibility of a three-Os god justly deceiving mankind and whether rebellion from the revealed will of God can be ethically justified. (The argument fails because Hudson asserts that 'everyone believes that lying can be ethically justified in at least some circumstances: if someone were to be in a situation calling for the use of deadly force, that person would be justified in lying if it would achieve the same outcome without killing.' Hudson affirms; St Thomas and I deny.)

However, Hudson does unpack all the beliefs that he's committed to for his arguments to have force, explicitly, in the appendix.

Worth trying, but maybe not for the $20 it's going for now that Rea slapped a 2-page forward on it and Hudson is getting some recognition; this work was originally self published in 2004 sans the 2-page Rea foreword for free in kindle and $4.99 in paperback. Earlier this year all the kindle and paperback versions disappeared in preparation for the release of this $20, no-ebook Eerdman's-published version. No version at all was available for about 6 months (I'd had the free kindle version in my cart for 3 or 4 years). That chain of events leaves a somewhat bad taste in my mouth.

[Joshua Burns]

This was an interesting read to be sure. However, the functional absence of Christ from Tesk's philosophizing made it depressing: what is a Christian philosophy of religion without Christocentric exploration of the questions proposed? Additionally, for a Christian, true communion with God is possible in the Spirit of Christ, and some phenomenological taste of this is necessary before writing any kind of Jobian meditation on divine hiddenness which does not wander into the sin of blasphemy. Since Tesk seems to have been denied this experience, it is difficult to take his philosophizing seriously versus the meditations of one who has first "tasted and seen the Lord is good."

Tesk is something of a Cartesian skeptic. I think the Reformed tradition has much to say in response to Tesk's (and by proxy Hudson's) worries. On the philosophical end, the witness of the Spirit to the truths of revelation is a source of epistemic warrant borne of participation in divine omniscience and which bears witness to an intra-Trinitarian covenant which includes the believer personally. I am certain that this is a key initial insight toward resolving doubts about the rationality of belief in the Gospel. On the pastoral end, I am convinced that more attention to Romans 3:5 would have been salutary for Dr. Hudson's soul.

[Jordan Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explored several philosophical questions pertaining to Christianity, such as "Why does an all-loving and all-powerful God permit evil," and "Why is God so 'hidden' if He loves his creation?" The author utilizes essentially three fictional characters to illustrate his thoughts: an angel guarding the Garden of Eden, a dog, and a female teacher on Earth that is an outcast to society. All parties give their insights into the aforementioned topics and it provides the reader with a different perspective on the possibility and probability of God's existence. The book was at times hard to understand, but that is most likely due to my lack of esoteric philosophical topics and not a fault of the author. Overall, this book is an exceptional read.

[Daniel Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Communicating philosophy through stories is hard. Ive not encountered it a lot, but I don’t know that it’s possible to be great as philosophy and great as a novel at the same time. This is pretty great philosophy, and I think it’s better for being told through stories. But I don’t think it’s great as a novel. It’s a goof hard look at some of the basic questions of religious metaphysics and epistemology. It doesn’t leave you feeling like they’re solved or like you can solve them, but I found it satisfying nonetheless. I thought the section on divine deception was especially interesting.

[Blake Reas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating fictional journey through philosophy

This book is an excellent start for those untrained in academic philosophy who want to begin to think about the inductive problem of evil, and Divine Hiddeness. There are three characters, Tesque the angel who guards Eden since the fall, Joy his ignored companion in the Garden, and finally the human mathematician. The book deals with some very difficult topics in the philosophy of religion. Highly recommended.

[Sam]

For "intellectual Christians" who have many questions and doubts, this book can likely be a clear articulation of those questions and doubts. The book also does address them but does not pretend that they can be fully fathomed. By "intellectual Christian," I mean the sort of person who has many philosophical/theological reasons for belief in Christianity but might not feel they have a close, personal relationship with the person of Christ that Christianity is about.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear articulation of skeptical theism in book form, and challenging version if divine deception objection..

I find the philosophy better than the novel. Ultimately, I find it too much to be a philosophy paper made into a novel to give it 5 stars. Whike many novels have the literature drown out the philosophical rigour, i think its vice versa here. The philosophy is excellent though and compelling.

[Neal Tognazzini · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second time reading this book, which was written by a good friend and colleague. This time around I listened to the audiobook, which is very well-read. The story is so philosophically rich - almost too rich at times - that it repays repeated readings. This time around I was able to focus more on the characters themselves, and I found myself disliking both of the main characters, although I could sympathize much more with Tesque. Though of course Joy is the hero of the book.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fantastic. I'll be using this as a text for my undergrads. I don't want to give away the storyline, but the basic question is this: what happens to our trust in God's character, promises, and special revelation once you offer a skeptical theist response to the problem of evil?

[Harley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but I would have liked to have more in-depth solutions to the problems presented — if that is even possible.

[vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

i have questions

[G.R. Vickers · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing work to say the least

[Griffin Tschacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and thought provoking into the role and purpose of evil and God’s goodness