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Does God Suffer?
The author of this book challenges the contemporary view of God and suffering. Calling upon scripture, and the philosophical and theological tradition of the Fathers and Aquinas, he advocates the incarnational truth that the Son of God actually does experience human living, including suffering.
320 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1999
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220 people want to read
About the author
Thomas G. Weinandy
25 books17 followersThomas G. Weinandy was born January 12, 1946, in Delphos, Ohio. He entered the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in 1966, was solemnly professed in 1970, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1972.
He earned a B.A. in Philosophy at St. Fidelis College, Herman, Pennsylvania in 1969, an M.A. in Systematic Theology at Washington Theological Union in 1972, and a Doctorate in Historical Theology at King’s College, University of London, in 1975.
Father Weinandy’s major fields of specialty are History of Christology, especially Patristic, Medieval and Contemporary, History of Trinitarian Theology, History of Soteriology, and Philosophical Notions of God.
He has held academic positions at Georgetown University, Mount St. Mary’s College, Emmitsburg, Maryland, Franciscan University of Steubenville, and Loyola College, Baltimore. Father Weinandy has served at the University of Oxford since 1991. He is the Warden of Greyfriars and tutor and lecturer in History and Doctrine in the Faculty of Theology. He was Chairman of the Faculty of Theology from 1997 to 1999. He also administers the Greyfriars Year Abroad Program.
Father Weinandy is a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, the Catholic Theological Society of Great Britain, the North American Patristics Society, and the Association Internationale D’Etudes Patristiques.
His books include Does God Change? The Word’s Becoming in the Incarnation, which has been translated into Romanian; In the Likeness of Sinful Flesh: An Essay on the Humanity of Christ; The Father’s Spirit of Sonship: Reconceiving the Trinity; Does God Suffer, which has been translated into Polish; The Lord Jesus Christ: An Introduction to Christology and Soteriology; Jesus the Christ; Receiving the Promise: The Spirit’s Work of Conversion; Be Reconciled to God: A Family Guide to Confession; and Sacrament of Mercy: A Spiritual and Practical Guide to Confession.
Father Weinandy has published scholarly articles in such journals as The Thomist, New Blackfriars, Communio, First Things, Pro Ecclesia, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, and the International Journal of Systematic Theology. His popular articles include those written for New Covenant, National Catholic Register, Pastoral Life, Canadian Catholic Review, New Oxford Review, the Arlington Catholic Herald, and The Family.
He earned a B.A. in Philosophy at St. Fidelis College, Herman, Pennsylvania in 1969, an M.A. in Systematic Theology at Washington Theological Union in 1972, and a Doctorate in Historical Theology at King’s College, University of London, in 1975.
Father Weinandy’s major fields of specialty are History of Christology, especially Patristic, Medieval and Contemporary, History of Trinitarian Theology, History of Soteriology, and Philosophical Notions of God.
He has held academic positions at Georgetown University, Mount St. Mary’s College, Emmitsburg, Maryland, Franciscan University of Steubenville, and Loyola College, Baltimore. Father Weinandy has served at the University of Oxford since 1991. He is the Warden of Greyfriars and tutor and lecturer in History and Doctrine in the Faculty of Theology. He was Chairman of the Faculty of Theology from 1997 to 1999. He also administers the Greyfriars Year Abroad Program.
Father Weinandy is a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, the Catholic Theological Society of Great Britain, the North American Patristics Society, and the Association Internationale D’Etudes Patristiques.
His books include Does God Change? The Word’s Becoming in the Incarnation, which has been translated into Romanian; In the Likeness of Sinful Flesh: An Essay on the Humanity of Christ; The Father’s Spirit of Sonship: Reconceiving the Trinity; Does God Suffer, which has been translated into Polish; The Lord Jesus Christ: An Introduction to Christology and Soteriology; Jesus the Christ; Receiving the Promise: The Spirit’s Work of Conversion; Be Reconciled to God: A Family Guide to Confession; and Sacrament of Mercy: A Spiritual and Practical Guide to Confession.
Father Weinandy has published scholarly articles in such journals as The Thomist, New Blackfriars, Communio, First Things, Pro Ecclesia, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, and the International Journal of Systematic Theology. His popular articles include those written for New Covenant, National Catholic Register, Pastoral Life, Canadian Catholic Review, New Oxford Review, the Arlington Catholic Herald, and The Family.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 25, 2024
This was 5 stars for me until the last two chapters. More on that below.
God’s impassibility can be especially difficult to understand for those new to classical theism (as I was not that long ago), so I was eager to read what Weinandy had to say.
I found the bulk of the book clear, compelling, well argued and well reasoned. If you’re looking for an academic treatment of impassibility this is a great place to find it.
The last two chapters though had a different feel. Part of that was due to theological assumptions or arguments he made from a Roman Catholic perspective that I do not share. Part of it was due to his desire to give a thorough explanation of a Christian view of suffering which, as important as it is, didn’t feel like it belonged in this particular book.
On the whole though, highly recommended. And I would definitely be eager to read this author again.
God’s impassibility can be especially difficult to understand for those new to classical theism (as I was not that long ago), so I was eager to read what Weinandy had to say.
I found the bulk of the book clear, compelling, well argued and well reasoned. If you’re looking for an academic treatment of impassibility this is a great place to find it.
The last two chapters though had a different feel. Part of that was due to theological assumptions or arguments he made from a Roman Catholic perspective that I do not share. Part of it was due to his desire to give a thorough explanation of a Christian view of suffering which, as important as it is, didn’t feel like it belonged in this particular book.
On the whole though, highly recommended. And I would definitely be eager to read this author again.
May 6, 2015
Weinandy's treatment is nothing short then excellent; and those who espouse a passible God must strive seriously with Weinandy's critiques and objections.
The book itself is formulated brilliantly, beginning with those who espouse a passible God, why they do, and the main tenants of their position. It moves thus into his prolegomena, which he defines as probing the Eternal Mystery of God and not as "solving a problem."
Weinandy then does some serious exegesis, theology, and philosophy in the following chapters when he deals with Yahweh as understood in the OT, Philo, the Patristic understanding of impassibility, and lastly, he formulates his understanding of Trinitarian relations around Aquinas and finally answers the question that is the title of his very book: the answer being in the negative.
From here Weinandy moves into God's love, and what this means for Him as a Being, and also what this means in light of the Cross. Here an extensive treatment of Cyril and Chalcedon sheds unspeakable light on his Christology, his overall thesis, and moreover against the position he is refuting.
He goes on to show why a passible God in essence doesn't work, bringing up objections from a flimsy ontology, a conspicuously absent cosmology, an ahistorical/mythological incarnation, a vacuous soteriology, a spurious atonement, and a non-existent after-life which is what the panentheistic closed system necessitates. His metaphysical objections concerning creation, I believe, are spot on, which have not been sufficiently addressed at all by those who espouse such doctrines of God's passibility; viz., that if God is ontologically inside of the world, and indeed moves dialectically with the world, experiencing suffering and more so, than God lacks the sufficient causal power, and relationship vis-à-vis the world to even create it, which simply begs the question to why is there anything instead of nothing? His interaction with the giants from Moltmann, Barth, and von Balthasar makes Weinandy's survey anything but superficial, as he indeed gets on his opponents' level and does not hesitate to throw hefty punches. His distinction of God's ethical immutability and ontological immutability was clear, and his contention that God's ethical immutability lacks grounding without God also being impassible and immutable ontologically was cogent and persuasive.
What Weinandy does next is remarkable: far from being an aloof text on irrelevant philosophical doctrines, he spends the next hundred pages explaining why all this is so important as he developes his doctrines of the atonement/Christology, and his theology of suffering that hinges on the impassibility of God in a way the draws out the whole significance of what it means to be in the body of Christ, what it means to suffer as Christ suffered, and ultimately what it means to be members of the living Head, the God-Man who still wears Glorified Flesh, intercedes on behalf of His Church, and still suffers in heaven even as one part of the body suffers thereby making the whole suffer. It is this longing and groaning wherewith we await the day when we will rise like Christ, the firstfruits of the resurrection, and truly be one with Him.
Best book I have read hitherto for 2014.
-b
The book itself is formulated brilliantly, beginning with those who espouse a passible God, why they do, and the main tenants of their position. It moves thus into his prolegomena, which he defines as probing the Eternal Mystery of God and not as "solving a problem."
Weinandy then does some serious exegesis, theology, and philosophy in the following chapters when he deals with Yahweh as understood in the OT, Philo, the Patristic understanding of impassibility, and lastly, he formulates his understanding of Trinitarian relations around Aquinas and finally answers the question that is the title of his very book: the answer being in the negative.
From here Weinandy moves into God's love, and what this means for Him as a Being, and also what this means in light of the Cross. Here an extensive treatment of Cyril and Chalcedon sheds unspeakable light on his Christology, his overall thesis, and moreover against the position he is refuting.
He goes on to show why a passible God in essence doesn't work, bringing up objections from a flimsy ontology, a conspicuously absent cosmology, an ahistorical/mythological incarnation, a vacuous soteriology, a spurious atonement, and a non-existent after-life which is what the panentheistic closed system necessitates. His metaphysical objections concerning creation, I believe, are spot on, which have not been sufficiently addressed at all by those who espouse such doctrines of God's passibility; viz., that if God is ontologically inside of the world, and indeed moves dialectically with the world, experiencing suffering and more so, than God lacks the sufficient causal power, and relationship vis-à-vis the world to even create it, which simply begs the question to why is there anything instead of nothing? His interaction with the giants from Moltmann, Barth, and von Balthasar makes Weinandy's survey anything but superficial, as he indeed gets on his opponents' level and does not hesitate to throw hefty punches. His distinction of God's ethical immutability and ontological immutability was clear, and his contention that God's ethical immutability lacks grounding without God also being impassible and immutable ontologically was cogent and persuasive.
What Weinandy does next is remarkable: far from being an aloof text on irrelevant philosophical doctrines, he spends the next hundred pages explaining why all this is so important as he developes his doctrines of the atonement/Christology, and his theology of suffering that hinges on the impassibility of God in a way the draws out the whole significance of what it means to be in the body of Christ, what it means to suffer as Christ suffered, and ultimately what it means to be members of the living Head, the God-Man who still wears Glorified Flesh, intercedes on behalf of His Church, and still suffers in heaven even as one part of the body suffers thereby making the whole suffer. It is this longing and groaning wherewith we await the day when we will rise like Christ, the firstfruits of the resurrection, and truly be one with Him.
Best book I have read hitherto for 2014.
-b
July 12, 2018
This is a very thorough argument for the impassibility of the passionate God of Scripture. The 4 stars is because of the chapter on the redemptive suffering of Christ, which is the one "low point" as Weinandy downplays the wrath of God.
Otherwise this is a masterpiece of clarity and detailed argument. Weinandy addresses creation, human suffering, the incarnation and the redemptive sufferings of Christ, all the while explaining how God is both passionate, and impassible. This book is important amidst the current craze for "bringing God down" to the level of human suffering, arguing for a passible God etc. Weinandy expertly addresses these arguments head-on.
""..God is perfectly compassionate not because he "suffers with" those who suffer, but because his love fully and freely embraces those who suffer."
“One should not be misled into thinking that God’s immutability is like the immutability of a rock only more so. What God and rocks appear to have in common is only the fact that they do not change. The reason for their unchangeableness is for polar -opposite reasons... God is unchangeable not because he is inert or static like a rock, but for just the opposite reason. He is so dynamic, so active that no change can make him more active. He is act pure and simple.”
Otherwise this is a masterpiece of clarity and detailed argument. Weinandy addresses creation, human suffering, the incarnation and the redemptive sufferings of Christ, all the while explaining how God is both passionate, and impassible. This book is important amidst the current craze for "bringing God down" to the level of human suffering, arguing for a passible God etc. Weinandy expertly addresses these arguments head-on.
""..God is perfectly compassionate not because he "suffers with" those who suffer, but because his love fully and freely embraces those who suffer."
“One should not be misled into thinking that God’s immutability is like the immutability of a rock only more so. What God and rocks appear to have in common is only the fact that they do not change. The reason for their unchangeableness is for polar -opposite reasons... God is unchangeable not because he is inert or static like a rock, but for just the opposite reason. He is so dynamic, so active that no change can make him more active. He is act pure and simple.”
March 26, 2024
Yet another volume completed for my thesis research. In his study on the doctrine of impassibility, Weinandy leaves no stone unturned as he situates the notion of divine impassibility in the doctrines of the Trinity, incarnation, and creation. He also explores the implications of God’s impassibility on human sin and suffering. My favorite section of the book was his patristic survey of the doctrine, but Weinandy is able to do historical, philosophical, and biblical theology very well! I am ultimately convinced by his view on divine impassibility. I did feel that the final chapter was overlong, though, and he makes the erroneous claim in the last chapter that psychological suffering is often the result of personal sin. This outdated psychological view should have no place in Christian discussion on suffering.
September 29, 2019
Required reading for Christians today. Clarified and expands on the necessary belief that God is impassible.
February 26, 2021
Cogent arguments with solid appeal to Scripture, philosophy, and Church history. The book was a bit difficult at times, simply for the philosophical writing. Although, Weinandy exposes well some of the shallowness of certain 20th-century theologians, it would have been nice to see some more thorough exegetical discussion of particular OT passages. While some of the concepts are rather lofty, they are all made practical by the end. The book is written from a Roman perspective, but there isn't very much here that was objectionable to Protestantism.
July 20, 2020
Parts of this are luminously clear, for example the overview of the Old Testament's teaching on the LORD. 5 stars. The overall thesis I'm sympathetic with: I think Weinandy is right that the Bible's answer to suffering is found in what God has done in Jesus Christ, not what he is afflicted with in himself. But this is an unmistakably Catholic book, and there are limits to how much I can approve of the sort of sacramentalism in the last few chapters. And I'm skeptical of the current love affair with this renewed Thomism I've witnessed in some of my evangelical brethren. Actus purus? Can't we find more biblical ways to say these things? So: lots that's good, and broadly sympathetic, but I'm never going to say that 'I really liked' what amounts to pretty mainstream Dominican theology.
October 11, 2020
Outstanding
December 15, 2022
The portion of the the book that argues for the impassibility of God is excellent. It could have stopped there. The book goes on discuss suffering and the church and this from a Roman Catholic perspective of the church and sacraments. Even it if were from a Protestant perspective it would be unnecessary to the thesis of the book.
April 4, 2015
In "Does God Suffer?", Fr. Weinandy challenges the contemporary "wisdom" that God must suffer in Himself or else He is distant from us and cannot understand us. In his book, he demonstrates that it is only because it is impossible for God to suffer that He can truly aid us in our suffering. In fact, it is a sign of the despair of our contemporary world that it believes that God must Himself suffer or He is no use to us. Throughout the book, Fr. Weinandy discusses the impassibility of God from the doctrines of Creation, the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Redemption. However, since he recognizes that many who claim God must suffer do so less for speculative reasons and more out of misguided compassion, he also takes great pains to show why these truths concerning God demonstrate not that He is aloof and uncaring, but rather that He is thoroughly present to us and cares greatly for us. While I do have some quibbles with his discussion of the Trinity and his discussion of the Redemption, in general I found his work thought-provoking and excellent reading.
December 6, 2013
Very difficult reading which makes it all the more worthwhile. A culminating work of theology about the deepest Christian mystery.
July 2, 2019
One of my favorite books so far this year.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews