The Nature of God: Can God Suffer?

Traditional Christian View of God

• Omnibenevolent: All good
• Omnipotent: All powerful
• Omniscient: All-knowing
• Transcendent: Beyond time and space
• Impassable: Cannot suffer or experience emotion
• Immutable: Cannot change
  • If God is perfect, any change would mean losing perfection.

Old Testament View

• God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent.
• Exists at an epistemic distance.
• Displays outward emotions like love, grief, compassion.
• Inner emotional state remains unchanged.

New Testament View

• God incarnate in Jesus, who is passable (can experience emotions).
• Jesus weeps (John 11:35), shows compassion (Matthew 9:36).
• Father remains impassable, plan to overcome suffering through resurrection.

Jurgen Moltmann's View

• Key Work: "The Crucified God"
• Challenges traditional view due to historical events (e.g., Holocaust).
• Argues that God is passable, can suffer and experience emotional change.

Key Concepts

• Inconsistent Triad: Omnipotent, omniscient, and wholly good God with the existence of evil.
  • Traditional theodicies by Irenaeus and Augustine.
• Docetism: Heresy that Jesus didn't truly suffer on the cross, as his body wasn't human.

Moltmann's Argument

• The cry "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34) is central.
  • Reflects separation and suffering within God himself.
• Paradox: God the Father and Son are united yet separated.
• Father suffers with the Son and the Spirit.

Divine Suffering and Theology of the Cross

• Suffering and death of the Son, grief of the Father, and outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
• Moltmann sees the Trinity as sharing in the event of the crucifixion.

Critique of Traditional Theology

• Traditional view sees Jesus’ cry as separation from God.
• Moltmann argues God, as a whole, suffered.

Moltmann's Personal Experience and Theodicy

• Born in an atheist family, became a POW in WWII.
• Questioned God's presence during atrocities like the Holocaust.
• Believes God suffers with humanity, unlike traditional theodicies.

Impact and Implications

• Challenges traditional Christian perspective on God's impassibility.
• Argues for a God who can be involved and affected by human suffering.
• Critiques:
  • Logical issues with God being changeable.
  • Contradicts traditional notions of the Trinity and divine nature.
  • Questions the significance of the resurrection if God suffers like humans.

Conclusion

• Moltmann proposes a God who suffers with humanity, relevant to modern experiences.
• Offers a radical reinterpretation of the crucifixion and the nature of God.
• Criticisms include potential weakening of God's transcendence and power.

Further Considerations

• Moltmann's views encourage a political and social responsibility for Christians.
• Highlights the depth of God's love through divine suffering.