Suffering for change: Juergen Moltmann's concept of divine suffering as an impetus for social responsibility

Jurgen Moltmann's work consistently espouses a theology concerned with suffering. Of particular interest to this paper is Moltmann's development of specifically divine suffering-the suffering of God. Moltmann spends a great deal of time on the issue in several of his works, most notably in The Crucified God, The Trinity and the Kingdom, and God in Creation. Despite Moltmann's emphasis on reality as it exists and the hope God provides in this world, he is critiqued because of his lack of a social ethic. This paper argues, through ideas of Trinity and kenosis, that Moltmann's work does indeed elicit social responsibility through his concept of divine suffering.