A critical reflection on the doctrine of the Trinity in Jürgen Moltmann’s The Crucified God with relation to human suffering and pain

Abstract

In his book The Crucified God; Jürgen Moltmann argues that the Church’s identity and relevance are intimately tied to what Christian theology has to say about God’s response in Christ – in referring to the meaning of the suffering and crucified Christ for the suffering of humankind and the created order. However the problem of human suffering cannot be approached without becoming aware of how God, in his revelation, becomes involved in a Trinitarian way. The intention is to search for answers to the problem in Jürgen Moltmann’s understanding of the Holy Trinity in its relation to human suffering. The crucified God, in Christ and Christ in God, meets us in our moments and situations of despair and God-forsakenness. When we cry out – Where is God? – and whilst crying out to the unreachable God in our lack of capacity, He reaches down in Trinitarian involvement in our world and in our history. The Trinitarian God reaches down to us in his gracious love, and plants His cross alongside our crosses of pain and destruction. God does that in His unexplainable kindness in our world order of the globalization of extreme evil and total exploitation of everything in God’s created world. The Triune God makes our suffering His suffering, and in His unending love He becomes the crucified God – for us victims and perpetrators.