The paradox of a suffering God

Can God suffer? Classical theologies generally considered an affirmative answer to this question to be heretical. But now the affirmation of divine suffering seems to have become a major feature of modern theologies. This study investigates into the reasons and the implications of such an apparent «paradigm shift» in the conception of God. After a cross-sectional analysis of various views on this issue and on themes such as the Cross, the Trinity, God-world relationship, divine love, freedom and «kenosis» in the classical, Modern Western and Third World theologies, the author arrives at two conclusions. Firstly, that this development is induced by the current departure from a substance-ontological to a relational thought-pattern. Secondly, that the affirmation of divine suffering can be plausible only within the frame-work of a Trinitarian and relational ontology.