Jesus Christ, but Fretheim sees it, not as something radically new, but as “the culmination of a long-standing relationship of God with the world that is much more widespread in the OT than is commonly recognized.” Fretheim's work is incredibly successful at accomplishing its stated purpose of bringing balance to the church's image of God in the Old Testament. He powerfully synthesizes the work of feminist, liberation, and process theologians while relying firmly on his expertise as a biblical exegete. The real strength of this work is that Fretheim manages to make many of the same critiques common to these movements without sounding like a feminist or a liberation theologian. While he acknowledges their influence on him, the author's tone and focus remain overtly biblical throughout the book. Fretheim brings an air of authority and experience in the task of exegesis that is missing in the works of systematic theologians addressing the same issues. Influences like Abraham Heschel help him keep Christian bias to a minimum when approaching the Old Testament text. Furthermore, he does not limit himself to one or two proof texts to support his position. On the contrary, I found myself flipping through my Bible constantly while reading his work. He challenges the reader to draw theology from the biblical text rather than to allow our preconceived ideas about God to distort our reading of the Old Testament. Fretheim's book is a marvelous example of inductive logical organization and rational approach to a complex topic. His argument is well-formed and easy to follow. The reader may be confused as to why a book called The Suffering of God takes over one hundred pages to actually discuss any pain endured by the deity, but Fretheim is not rushed into embracing a position before laying the biblical and philosophical groundwork necessary to support that position. Indeed, laying the foundation is the difficult part. After chapter six, the reader already anticipates the conclusion. The author is conversant with a wide range of modern scholarship as evidenced by his excellent endnotes and bibliography. The relative brevity of the book is amazing considering the wide range of topics addressed. Here again, Fretheim's organizational skills are at work. When a related but unessential issue arises, he usually adds a note to refer the reader to good sources on the topic and continues on without interrupting his argument. One of the nicest things about