Does God Suffer?

Abstract

The author argues that Thomas G. Weinandy in his book Does God Suffer? starts from the axiom of divine apathy, rather than that he argues for it. He criticizes the hermeneutic implicit in Weinandy's interpretation of 1 Samuel 15, and proposes an alternative approach. Moreover, he criticizes Weinandy's appeal to agreement among the church fathers (based on a non-representative selection) and his appeal to the doctrine of the Trinity (based on a most speculative, but insuffciently warranted interpretation of this doctrine).