Death Before the Fall

Osborn writes well, but the book lacks focus. More of the book focuses on fundamentalism and literalism than on the topic of animal suffering itself. The first part is spent evaluating fundamentalism and Biblical literalism, and it is here that the book shines. Osborn offers a well-thought out and engaging critique, and delivers a number of good insights on the topic, as well as a good defense of certain forms of theistic evolution over and against both pure materialism and strict literalism. His actual discussion of animal suffering, however, is brief and was unsatisfactory in both argument and conclusion. Several exegeses in the second part fail to engage with other interpreters, and his dismissal of perspectives like C.S. Lewis's is based on unsubstantiated speculation and virtually amounts to a “Well, what if he's wrong?” rather than a compelling argument. I was pleasantly surprised by the opening chapters, but I was ultimately left disappointed after completing his discussion of the problem posed in the title. 5/5 part one, 3/5 part 2.