Nashotah House / TH 1 / Michaelmas 2000

The Suffering of God

• The Traditional Position

The classic (western theological tradition) was based on recognizing a certain tension between (a) the presentation of God in Scripture as one who loves, who responds to his people with care, sorrow, anger, etc.; and (b) the requirements of a God who transcends time, is eternal and changeless. The Greek philosophical tradition, yielding the "Unmoved Mover" (as in the arguments of the existence of God) seems to be the major influence here; but note the biblical teaching of the changelessness of God (e.g. James 1:17).

The tension between the two sides is seen in Origen (3.7, 3.8); Anselm (see 3.18) presents the classic solution: God in himself does not have passions, but is truly compassionate, and so on, in terms of our human experience.

• Arguments for Passibility
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Following P. Fiddes (in Blackwell Enc. of Mod. Christ. Thought) there are four lines of thought leading to revising the position, in favor of passibility:

• • • The Nature of love requires participation and sharing to be genuine (see Bonhoeffer, 1.23)
    • Christological considerations: the traditional view isolates suffeirng in christ to the humanity alone; such a separation of natures in Christ is artificial (see Luther, 4.30); also, in light of the unity of the Trinity, all three persons share in the humility of the cross (see Moltmann, 3.29).
    • The requirements of justice and the nature of God. The presence and involvement of God in the world seems required if we are not be resort to a deistic God
    • Moreoever, the modern world view, with evolution and the closer relation to the Creator required, points to an involved Creator.

Note that God's transcendence and being can be preserved if one takes the tack used by Karl Barth: that God chooses to be conditioned by the world-that is part of his freedom.

• Problems with the new Position
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  • • Compromising the changelessness of God seems contrary to scripture.
    • The eternity and timelessness of God ; also, we seem to be settling for a less than omniscient God.
    • [for Fiddes, the strongest point]: A suffering God would not inspire our confidence and worship, because suffering, if part of the being of God, would be eternalized and never finally overcome. This makes the problem of evil even more of a challenge to deal with.

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