Evolution, Leviathan, and Suffering | The Wonder of Scripture with Steven Peck

In this Wonder of Scripture lecture, visiting Maxwell Fellow Steven Peck explores the book of Job through poetry, storytelling, and what he calls an imaginative reading of scripture. Rather than focusing on tidy answers, Peck invites us into deeper questions—about suffering, creation, agency, and the nature of God. Drawing on his background as an evolutionary biologist, Peck reexamines familiar assumptions about Job’s patience and instead presents a more complex, even confrontational figure—one who dares to put God on trial. But when God responds, He doesn’t offer simple explanations. Instead, He asks questions—about the natural world, about creation, and about mysteries far beyond human understanding. Through poetry, personal experience, and reflections on figures like Darwin and William Blake, Peck reframes suffering not as a problem to be solved, but as part of a vast, unfinished creation—one that even God participates in. In this vision, beauty, agency, and pain are deeply intertwined. This lecture offers a fresh and thought-provoking perspective for anyone seeking to engage scripture more creatively and honestly—especially in the face of life’s hardest questions. Topics include: The book of Job as poetry and protest Why questions may matter more than answers in scripture The role of imagination in spiritual understanding Suffering, agency, and the “Leviathan” of existence Creation as ongoing, complex, and deeply meaningful