one of the nicest things about this work is its energetic and engaging style. fretheim hopes this book will change the church's view of god in the old testament, and readability is essential to influencing preachers and teachers within churches. the provocative nature of the topic and fretheim's willingness to make bold claims leads the reader into dialogue with the text. ward characterizes it as “bold and challenging, inviting vigorous response,” saying that the margins of his review copy are “filled with comments” while the content is too technical for direct use in most church settings, the ideas that fretheim lays out can easily be transferred to a sermon or bible class. certainly, the suffering of god is not a popular level book, but it is also not so technical as to exclude ministers or seminary students from its audience.