Eavesdropping on Theology Class

I recently learned that my book, Covenant and Community, has been assigned as required reading for a course on "Theology of the Human" at Trinity College, University of Toronto. The course, as I understand it, is the "what," "how," and "why" of being human, all from a biblical perspective. Thus it perfectly corresponds to the book, which is a study of the "what," "how," and "why" of God's image.

I would be curious to eavesdrop on the class and read the papers as students wrestle with trying to fathom why an eternally happy God (as we all seem to assume) would trouble himself with creating such troublesome and painful creatures as ourselves. They (the three who are God) didn't have to make us, you know. It would have spared them all more pain than we can comprehend if they would have stopped the creation halfway through the sixth day. So why did they do it?

That is a question that seems to me to be a very weak point in many people's theologies. I have by now read a couple hundred books purporting to delve into the subject of God's image, but most are terribly weak when it comes to asking about God's motive for Creation. But it is a vital question, one that plagued me since I was four or five years old. In Covenant and Community I think a more thorough and focussed answer is drawn out; whether it is also a more adequate and satisfying answer remains for others to decide.

That is why I'd love to eavesdrop as students struggle with such questions.