But What About God's Wrath?

How can a loving God also be a God of wrath? God's wrath stands out in the minds of many as the single most puzzling aspect of God's character. Often Christians who would like to reconcile divine love with divine wrath-while remaining faithful to the Bible-can't figure out how to do so. Kevin Kinghorn and Stephen Travis offer a way forward. Using a philosophically informed line of argument and a careful study of the relevant biblical texts, Kinghorn and Travis show how these two aspects of God's character can be reconciled. Often God's wrath is viewed as an expression of holiness or justice, with the implicit assumption that God's just response to people is incompatible with a loving response. The authors instead view God's love as a strictly essential divine attribute, with justice as a derivative of love. But What About God's Wrath? will appeal to Christians eager to engage this puzzle more deeply, more philosophically, and more biblically, beyond pat answers and devotional platitudes.

Kevin Kinghorn (DPhil, University of Oxford) is a professor of philosophy and religion at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Decision of Faith and A Framework for the Good.