Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing in his cell in a Nazi prison, expressed a most remarkable idea. "Men go to God in His need. " This is the insight, he observed, which distinguishes the Christian faith from all other religions. It is a universal belief that God, or the gods, should come to help man in his mortal, human need. But this is not the God and Father of Jesus Christ. Even as Jesus in Gethsemane chided his disciples for their sloth in not keeping watch with him during his agony, so God the Father must look to His creatures for their faith and sympathy. Therein lies the basis for the Christian answer to man kind's perennial complaint: Why do men suffer? Not all theologians, believing Christians, or believers in a personal God can share this idea. Traditionally the Eastern Orthodox thinkers have adhered to the rule of apophatic theology: that is, there are boundaries of knowledge about God which the human mind, even when enlightened by revelation, cannot cross. So who can say that God the Eternal One is susceptible to what we call suffering? It is better to hold one's silence on so deep a mystery. Still others are loathe to acknowledge God's passibility for varying reasons. God is ultimate and perfect; therefore he cannot know suffering or other emotions. God is impersonal; therefore it is meaningless to ascribe personal, anthro popathic feelings to Him. Many angels may fear to tread on the ground of this most difficult question.

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Bibliographic Information

Book Title: God Suffers for Us
Book Subtitle: A Systematic Inquiry into a Concept of Divine Passibility
Authors: Jung Young Lee
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2048-0
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive
Copyright Information: Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands 1974
Softcover ISBN: 978-90-247-1614-2Published: 31 October 1974
eBook ISBN: 978-94-010-2048-0Published: 06 December 2012
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: 128
Topics: Religious Studies, general

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

Front Matter

Introduction

A Criterion for the Ascription of Divine Passibility: The Empathy of God

The Negation of Divine Passibility: An Examination of a Traditional Doctrine of Divine Impassibility

The Affirmation of Divine Passibility: Its Compatibility with the Major Doctrines of the Christian Faith

An Application of Divine Passibility: The Overcoming of Our Suffering in the Fellowship of Divine and Human Suffering

Back Matter

About this book