Divine Suffering

“Ours is a broken, bloodied world. And our only hope for help and healing is the broken, bloodied God. Divine Suffering is a collection of essays with striking evenness and thematic continuity, and it sings of a reality that could hardly be more uplifting and glorious. This book brims with biblical, theological, and pastoral wisdom—a grand gift to the church’s life and mission, especially for times such as these.”


—John C. Clark, Moody Bible Institute





“This is a badly needed book. It pushes back against one of the ways in which historical, philosophical, and dogmatic systematic theology have overridden the biblical text and the needs of the Christian life in favor of a simplistic absolute view of God as static, non-interactive, and non-affective. Yes, God is sovereign, so the struggle in fallen creation cannot overcome him, but God has also chosen to struggle right along with us all along the way.”


—Richard E. Averbeck, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School





“The claim that God is impassible—that, since God cannot be affected by anything external to himself, God does not suffer—has been a plank of classical theism through the centuries. In this book, Andrew J. Schmutzer assembles a solid team of authors to scrutinize anew this long-standing theological proposition. An impressively wide array of approaches and topics are well canvassed. A landmark book in defense of the suffering of God.”


—Paul Rhodes Eddy, Bethel University





“Divine Suffering is a collection of essays committed to thinking through how God’s transcendent being experiences and interacts with a world of suffering and sorrows. This is a serious exercise in wrestling with how God’s god-ness is safeguarded even as he covenants with and participates in the human condition through his Son, Jesus Christ. A diverse range of perspectives for a difficult, yet profoundly stimulating topic.”


—Michael F. Bird, Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia





“The authors of this book take us through the Bible and clearly demonstrate that the God of Scripture is not a distant God. He partners with our pain and suffering—indeed, ‘Jesus wept’ (John 11:35). These essays will be a blessing to many who wish to dig deep in Scripture and church history and prepare present and future generations to never give up hope when we go through pain and suffering.”


—Samuel Naaman, Moody Bible Institute





“Finally, a collection of essays on divine suffering that is biblically based, historically informed, and practically oriented. I migrated from the traditional (Augustinian) doctrine of divine impassibility to a more nuanced model of divine passibility years ago but was unable to point to a well-rounded discussion—until now.”


—Gordon Johnston, Dallas Theological Seminary





“While many treatments of divine suffering have remained philosophical in their framework, a welcome distinction with this volume is its theological emphasis. I heartily recommend Divine Suffering for scholars, teachers, theological students, pastors, ministry leaders and engaged lay readers seeking to strengthen their understanding of God’s relationship to suffering, and of the believer’s call to minister to a suffering world.”


—J. Nathan Clayton, North Park Theological Seminary