Charleston, SC, April 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Palmetto Publishing has released Afflictions, a new book by Dr. James L. Pirkle, Jr., a practicing academic nephrologist at Wake Forest School of Medicine. The work examines the intersection of personal tragedy and biblical theology, written not from the safety of hindsight but from the ongoing reality of serious illness and loss.
Dr. Pirkle spent years caring for critically ill patients in his nephrology practice. In February 2023, the roles reversed when he received his own cancer diagnosis — one that progressed to advanced-stage metastatic disease. That crisis arrived on top of grief he and his wife already carried: seven pregnancy losses and the death of a baby girl. In Afflictions, Pirkle walks readers through those experiences in concrete, unflinching detail while turning to Scripture passage by passage to investigate what the Bible actually teaches about suffering in the life of a believer.
At the heart of the book is a distinction Pirkle identifies between what he calls faith suffering and common suffering — afflictions shared by all people in a fallen world versus trials that test and refine belief itself. He confronts the spiritual crisis that emerges when promises of God’s protection and the reality of prolonged pain appear to contradict each other. The stakes are not abstract. Pirkle writes as a man whose future remains uncertain, whose prayers have not all been answered, and whose faith has been pressed to its limits.
James L. Pirkle, Jr. stated, “I wrote this book because when I was given my diagnosis, I needed to understand how a sovereign and loving God could allow this depth of pain in the life of one of His own children. I went to Scripture not for easy comfort but for honest truth, and what I found there changed the way I see God’s faithfulness in my darkest valleys.”
The book is positioned within the tradition of Scripture-rooted works on suffering and sovereignty that readers of Timothy Keller, Joni Eareckson Tada, and Matt Chandler have come to trust. It is intended for Christian believers aged thirty to sixty-five who are navigating serious illness, grief, or prolonged trials and who seek encouragement that validates the rawness of pain rather than glossing over it. Its heavily biblical approach and the immediacy of the author’s circumstances set it apart from retrospective memoirs in the same category.
Afflictions is available for purchase online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
About the Author: James L. Pirkle, Jr., M.D., is a practicing academic nephrologist at the Wake Forest School of Medicine. A graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, Dr. Pirkle has spent his career caring for critically ill patients. That professional experience took on deeply personal dimensions when he was diagnosed with cancer in February 2023 and continues to face metastatic disease. It was from the crucible of that diagnosis—compounded by the grief of multiple pregnancy losses he and his wife had already endured—that Afflictions: When Troubles Common to the People of this World Burden the People of God was born. Unlike many books on suffering written in retrospect, Afflictions is composed in real time, at a point when Dr. Pirkle’s own future remains uncertain. That immediacy lends the work a rare and powerful authenticity as he turns to Biblical Scripture for answers, wrestling honestly with how a believer can trust that God is near and at work even in the depths of pain. His hope is that readers who are suffering—or who love someone who is—will find their faith renewed and strengthened. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Pirkle now lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with his wife, Stephanie, where they enjoy spending time with their three sons. Follow James L. Pirkle, Jr. for updates on new releases.
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Available for interviews: Author, James L. Pirkle, Jr.
- Afflictions: When Troubles Common to the People of this World Burden the People of God