The Suffering of God: An Old Testament Perspective is a book by Old Testament scholar Terence E. Fretheim. In 1984 it appeared as number 14 in the Overtures to Biblical Theology series published by Fortress Press. Summary and review Most Christians believe the incarnation of God is an exclusively New Testament idea, but in The Suffering of God: An Old Testament Perspective, Terence E. Fretheim argues that incarnation has always been God's standard method of interaction with humanity. Through exegesis and a literary and philosophical approach to Scripture, Fretheim draws the elusive God of the Old Testament close. Indeed, the author seeks to balance the common images of God as wrathful judge or cold lawgiver with an image of God in relationship with humanity. According to Fretheim, God suffers because He has completely and intimately bound Himself in relation to the created world, especially His people Israel. Fretheim defends his thesis by claiming that "metaphors matter" and appealing to biblical images of an immanent deity. For him, the most significant metaphors for God in the Old Testament are anthropomorphic. If man is created in the image of God, he argues, then we have "permission to reverse the process and, by looking at the human, learn what God is like" (p. 11). The human metaphor is presented as the dominant expression of God's nature and character. The author says that many aspects of humanity are not appropriate for describing God. Sexuality, death, sinfulness, etc. are aspects of human nature that should not be ascribed to God. These "ungodly" aspects of humanity have moved some Christians to dismiss anthropomorphic descriptions of God out of hand, but Fretheim argues that the human metaphor is so pervasive and appropriate that it acts as a sort of guide, directing the reader as to the proper way to understand all non-human metaphors. The human metaphor has been long neglected in Fretheim's opinion, but he sees feminist theology, liberation / Black theology, and the theological response to catastrophic events of the twentieth century as positive responses to this neglect. The problem, he says, is that too many theologians are doing their own exegesis, and they are bringing ideas to the text which cannot be supported. He argues that biblical scholars, biased by their theology, have largely ignored texts concerning God's repentance, downplayed anthropomorphic descriptions of God, and misunderstood issues relating to divine foreknowledge. Fretheim believes that an