Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.09.2007, Blaðsíða 14

in Christ the central engaged figure of this world’s tragedy, sharing our
sufferings and our sorrows?
In the first part of this lecture I shall explain the basic theses of THE
CRUCIFIED GOD; 1. The passibility of God, 2. Liberating justice for
victims and perpetrators, 3. A trinitarian theology of the cross.
In the second part we shall listen to the criticism of 1. Karl Rahner and
2. Dorothee Sölle and feminist theology.
At the end we shall look into the future of the risen Christ and the com-
ing joy of God.
I. THE BASIC THEMES OF THE CRUCIFIED GOD
1. Passibility or Impassibility of God?
Is God capable of suffering? If we follow the fashion of Greek philosophy
and ask, what attributes are ‘appropriate’ to God (theoprepes): differenti-
ation, diversity, movement and suffering, all have to be excluded from the
divine nature. In traditional metaphysics the divine nature is incapable of
suffering; otherwise it would not be divine. The absolute subject of
modern metaphysics is also incapable of suffering; otherwise it would not
be absolute. Impassible, immovable, uncompounded and self-sufficing, the
Deity stands over against a moved, divided, suffering and never self-suffici-
ent world. For the divine substance is the founder and sustainer of this
world of transitory phenomena, it abides eternally, and so it cannot be
subjected to this world’s destiny. This is called the metaphysical Apathy
axiom, formulated by Aristotle in book 12 of his METAPHYSICS.
But if we turn instead to the theological proclamation of the Christi-
an tradition, we find at its centre the history of Christ’s Passion. The
Gospel tells us about the suffering of Christ for the redemption of the
world; the Eucharist communicates the self-giving of Christ in the form
of bread and wine. When Christ’s Passion is made present to us in word
and sacrament, faith is awakened in us - the Christian faith in God, not
just a certain monotheistic belief, but belief in the God of Christ. We beli-
eve in God for Christ sake, because God himself is involved in Christ's
passion story. But in what way? If the Deity cannot suffer, how can we see
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