The Suffering of God According to Martin Luther's Theologia Crucis

Book excerpt: Does God suffer within himself? Does God suffer only in the humanity of Jesus Christ? Or does only the God-man Jesus Christ suffer? This book seeks to demonstrate that the suffering of God has an "ontological status" in Luther's Theologia Crucis. The discussion concentrates on three constituents of Luther's theology - Christology, soteriology, and Trinity - to see how each of them establishes the assertion that God suffers. It also places Luther within the modern discussions of Essential Apathy: Luther accepts the Old Church's Theopaschitism, but rejects Patripassianism, a heresy of the Old Church. This study breaks new ground by taking Luther a step further, arguing that only a Trinitarian theology of the cross is genuine Christian theology, and that the suffering of Christ touches the immanent Trinity as well as the economic Trinity. Ngien engages in useful discussions with other scholars including Paul Althaus, Walter von Loewenich, Ian Siggins, Marc Lienhard, Eberhard Jungel, Jurgen Moltmann, and Alister McGrath. "Dr. Ngien has done a good job of sorting out Luther's numerous statements about the suffering of God and finding consistency in them. He engages in a useful discussion with other Lutheran commentators. He presents a concise and competent survey of the early church's discussion of the suffering of God and also attends to Luther's reception of and reaction to late medieval thought." - David E. Demson, University of Toronto Dennis Ngien (PhD) is Research Professor of Theology at Tyndale University College and Seminary, Toronto. He is founder of the Centre for Mentorship and Theological Reflection, and author of Apologetic for Filioque in Medieval Theology (Paternoster Press, 2005) as well as numerous journal articles.