The Creative Suffering of God [Paperback]

The theme that God suffers with his world has become a familiar one in recent years, overturning centuries of belief in an impassible deity. This book both surveys recent thought about the suffering of God and proposes future directions for this important area of Christian theology. Fiddes discusses four trends of current thought--the theology of the cross in modern German theology as represented in the works of Barth, Moltmann, and J??ngel; American process theology; the death of God theology; and the rejection of the idea of divine passibility by modern followers of classical theism--while reflecting on the main theme of his study. The book affirms that God freely chooses to limit himself, to suffer change, to journey through time, and even to experience death while remaining the living God.

A remarkable, dazzling study, that will bend the mind a little, even of a classical theist. --Theological Studies

Represents the best effort to conceptualize the notion of a suffering God within the last one hundred years....His positions possess an admirable sophistication...It has taken the place of preeminence among theological reflections on the notion of divine suffering. --The Journal of Religion

Because the issues with which Fiddes deals are so important and because he treats them so carefully and so engagingly, this is a book that should be read and pondered. --Review and Expositor

Remarkable for its breadth of resources and its depth of argument....An exciting achievement in drawing together major strands within our current pluralistic theological situation. --Interpretation

Fiddes presents the reader with an impressive and compelling study of the possibility of suffering of God....Fiddes has written a very rich, appealing study of a fascinating development in contemporary theology. --Journal of the American Academy of Religion