Does God Suffer?

The immense suffering in the modern world, especially in the light of the Holocaust, has had a profound impact on the contemporary understanding of God and his relationship to human suffering. There has been a growing acceptance that God himself suffers in solidarity and love with those who suffer. Weinandy’s comprehensive presentation resolutely challenges this view of God and suffering, arguing from scripture and from the philosophical and theological tradition of the Fathers and Aquinas. He maintains that a God who is impassible is more loving and compassionate than a suffering God. He also argues that it is the Son of God’s experience of suffering as a man that is truly redemptive and life-giving.