Questioning God

Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe has been long been one of the most popular preachers across the globe, speaking in retreats which he gives in English or in his equally fluent French.Radcliffe has spent most of his life as a Dominican based at the order’s Blackfriars base in Oxford, apart from his nine years as master of the order in Rome, but has always travelled widely, being in huge demand as a speaker. He was elevated to the rank of Cardinal by Pope Francis in December 2024.His books have been bestsellers, particularly I Call You Friends, Seven Last Words and What Is the Point of Being a Christian?, which won the 2007 Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing. His other books include Alive in God and Take the Plunge, all published by Bloomsbury Continuum.Lukasz Popko is a Biblical scholar. Polish by birth, a Dominican preacher, lives in Jerusalem where he teaches the Old Testament and ancient history at the French Biblical and Archaeological School (Ecole Biblique). He is also the editorial director of The Bible in Its Traditions project. His present and main research project is the critical edition of the Book of Kings of the Hebrew Bible.

• Prologue: ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening’ (1 Sam. 3.9)1 ‘Where are you?’ (Gen. 3.8–20)2 ‘Where is Abel, your brother?’ (Gen. 4.1–16)3 ‘Where is Sarah, your wife?’ Welcoming the strangers (Gen. 18.1–16)Three absences4 ‘What is your name?’ (Gen. 32.23–33)5 ‘And if they ask “What is His name?”, what shall I say?’ (Exod. 3.1–14)What name?6 ‘What is it for you here, Elijah?’ (1 Kgs 19.8–18)7 ‘I am young. I do not know how to speak’ (Jer. 1.4–10)8 ‘Is it good for you to be angry?’ (Jon. 4.1–13)Four Prophets9 ‘Have you not seen him whom my heart loves?’ (Song 1.12–2.7)We see his face10 ‘How will this happen?’ (Lk. 1.26–38)11 ‘Child, why have you treated us like this?’ (Lk. 2.41–52)12 ‘How can you, being a Jew, ask from me “to drink”, while I am a Samaritan woman?’ (Jn. 4.4–42)13 ‘Who do you say that I am?’ (Mt. 16.13–28)Who is he? Who am I?14 ‘Whose wife will she be?’ (Mk. 12.18–28)15 ‘What is truth?’ (Jn. 18.28–19.16)Questioning Him16 ‘What are these words that you are hurling at each other while walking?’ (Lk. 24.13–35)17 ‘Do you love me more than these?’ (Jn. 21.1–22)18 ‘I opposed him to his face’ (Gal. 2.1–14)Epilogue: ‘For our conversation is in heaven’ (Phil. 3.20)AcknowledgementsImage creditsNotes