'Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, Prof.dr.J.A. van Ginkel ingevolge het besluit van het College van Dekanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 10 september 1992 des namiddag te 2.30 uur'.

'In contemporary theory the possibility of divine suffering and emotions is a live issue. While the doctrine of divine impassibility is sometimes still defended, most theologians today tend to hold that God is passibility.
The first chapters of this study provide a fresh and thorough-going discussion of the most important arguments in the debat on this issue.
Though the impassibilist position is not as weak as its is often suggested to be, the case for passibilism is shown to be stronger in the end. The author then goes on to consider an argument against passibilism that has not received due attention in contemporary theology:
the argument that passibility requires embodiment. If God is able tot experience emotions, it seems to follow that He must have a body. The author analyses Aquina's defense of this thesis and, in the light of contemporary philosophical theories on metaphorical God-talk and on nature of the emotions, concludes that divine experiences of suffering should necessarily be somehow located. In a final chapter the author discusses contemporary views on divine embodiment and shows how theology could develop a suitable theory of divine embodiment which might als be acceptable to the community of Christian believers'.

Een studie die je niet 'eventjes' ter hand neemt.
We gaan er voor zitten!