What Do We Do With Evil?

In this small, masterfully crafted book, Richard Rohr writes that “evil is subtle and the evils that are killing us all are usually well-disguised.” He sets the tone with these words by the mystic Julian of Norwich: “First we must fall, and then we recover from that fall—and both are the mercy of God.” Rohr then skillfully distills a half-century of his preaching and teaching on corporate evil, sin, forgiveness, and love. 

Addressing the three traditional sources of evil, Rohr describes how Christianity has focused almost exclusively on the individual, “flesh” level while “the world and the devil basically got off scot-free for most of Christian history.” Challenging readers to look beyond personal moral failure, Rohr draws extensively on the teachings of Jesus and Paul to “increase personal responsibility and human solidarity.” 

What Do We Do With Evil? invites us to encounter evil with a contemplative, nondual mind and to reflect on how we too are complicit in the social evils pervading our lives. He presents no easy solutions, but leaves readers with principles and a process for resisting evil with patience and love. 

Paperback, 104 pages 

CAC Publishing, 2019