Review: Does God Suffer?
By Thomas G. Weinandy, O.F.M., Cap. (Notre
Dame: 2000).
The classical view of God defended for most
of church history by
thinkers such as the early church fathers, later
theologians like Aquinas, and reformers like Calvin and Arminius, was that God
is impassible. This means that God
does not experience changes of emotional states. But in recent times, this
doctrine has come under sharp criticism by theologians of varied backgrounds.
Catholic theologian Thomas G. Weinandy’s
book, Does God Suffer?, is a robust
defense of the classical doctrine of impassibility. As he explains in the
preface, his desire is to refute erroneous arguments made against the doctrine,
and to present a positive view of God in light of this teaching. I think he
succeeds on both counts.
In this review I will survey each chapter of
Weinandy’s book and summarize his arguments. But before I do that, since the
concept of impassibility may be foreign to many readers, I want to take just a
moment to clarify what exactly this teaching means. But first, we need to
understand some more basic ideas about God and language.
