
Embracing Vulnerability
Human and Divine
Roberto Sirvent(Author)
James Clarke & Co Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 27. April 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
210 pages
978-0-227-17649-8 (ISBN)
Description
Arguments in favour of divine impassibility take many forms, one of which is moral. This argument views emotional risk, vulnerability, suffering, and self-love as obstacles to moral perfection. In Embracing Vulnerability: Human and Divine, the author challenges these mistaken assumptions about moral judgment. Through an analysis of Hebrew thought and modern philosophical accounts of love, justice, and emotion, Roberto Sirvent reveals a fundamental incompatibility between divine impassibility and the Imitation of God ethic (imitatio Dei). This book shows that a God who is not emotionally vulnerable is a God unworthy of our imitation.
But in what sense can we call divine impassibility immoral? To be sure, God's moral nature teaches humans what it means to live virtuously. But can human understandings of morality teach us something about God's moral character? If true, how should we go about judging God's moral character? Isn't it presumptuous to do so? After all, if we are going to challenge divine impassibility on moral grounds, what reason do we have to assume that God is bound by our standards of morality?
Embracing Vulnerability: Human and Divine addresses these questions and many others. In the process, Sirvent argues for the importance of thinking morally about theology, inviting scholars in the fields of philosophical theology and Christian ethics to place their theological commitments under close moral scrutiny, and to consider how these commitments reflect and shape our understanding of the good life.
But in what sense can we call divine impassibility immoral? To be sure, God's moral nature teaches humans what it means to live virtuously. But can human understandings of morality teach us something about God's moral character? If true, how should we go about judging God's moral character? Isn't it presumptuous to do so? After all, if we are going to challenge divine impassibility on moral grounds, what reason do we have to assume that God is bound by our standards of morality?
Embracing Vulnerability: Human and Divine addresses these questions and many others. In the process, Sirvent argues for the importance of thinking morally about theology, inviting scholars in the fields of philosophical theology and Christian ethics to place their theological commitments under close moral scrutiny, and to consider how these commitments reflect and shape our understanding of the good life.
Reviews / Votes
"Roberto Sirvent argues powerfully that the call to imitate God in our actions is incompatible with the idea of divine impassibility found in much Christian philosophy. By exploring the biblical roots of imitatio Dei he demonstrates that it implies a God who can suffer with his creation, as a number of modern theologians have argued. An impassible God is not worth imitating! An important contribution to an ongoing debate, unusual in combining both doctrinal and biblical expertise in a creative way."John Barton, Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of the Holy Scripture, University of Oxford
"A new and powerful argument for the passibility of God, as well as an incisive analysis of the concepts of divine love and compassion. A book of spiritual force and intellectual acuteness."
Keith Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus, University of Oxford
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 153 mm
Weight
319 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-227-17649-8 (9780227176498)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2017
James Clarke & Co Ltd
€29.49
Available for download
Person
Roberto Sirvent is Associate Professor of Political and Social Ethics at Hope International University in Fullerton, California.
Content
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
2 Divine Impassibility
3 Imitatio Dei and Reasoning about God's Moral Nature
4 Emotional Vulnerability in the Moral Life
5 Emotional Vulnerability in the Moral Life: An Old Testament Perspective
6 The Immorality of Impassibility
Conclusion: Thinking Morally about Theology
Bibliography
Index
1 Introduction
2 Divine Impassibility
3 Imitatio Dei and Reasoning about God's Moral Nature
4 Emotional Vulnerability in the Moral Life
5 Emotional Vulnerability in the Moral Life: An Old Testament Perspective
6 The Immorality of Impassibility
Conclusion: Thinking Morally about Theology
Bibliography
Index