The Idea of the Abusive God in the Work of Walter Brueggemann and David R Blumenthal

There is no doubt that Brueggemann in his theology of the Old Testament defines specific attributes to YHWH that challenge major theological claims about who God in his essence really is. Using the term attribute, I refer to David Blumenthal, who, in his book The Abusive God, A Theology of Protest (1993), argues that God in his essence is abusive. Blumenthal defines the term attribute:

A quality said to be inherent in the subject it describes; for God, there are ‘essential’ attributes without which one cannot understand God and ‘accidental’ attributes which are metaphors.[1]

Blumenthal presents in detail how theologians have defined the attributes of God. The two most essential attributes for God is holiness and personality: “Using the language of medieval thinkers, we can say that God has two essential attributes: holiness and personality.”[2] However, Blumenthal also argues that a theology about God´s character must face the difficult fact that God is abusive:

God as portrayed in our holy sources and as experienced by humans throughout the ages, acts, from time to time, in a manner that is so unjust that it can only be characterized by the term ‘abusive.’[3]

Blumenthal is very positive to Brueggemann who, despite some differences, also suggests to define YHWH as abusive. This description of YHWH is quite unique. On what grounds do they reach such a conclusion?

[1] See Blumenthal, The Abusive God, 301.

[2] See Blumenthal, The Abusive God, 7.

[3] See Blumenthal, The Abusive God, 247.