Book excerpt: Dennis Ngien places Luther within the context of the medieval Church, the early Church's discussion of the suffering of God and the modern discussions of the essential Apathy. Luther accepts the Old Church's Theopaschitism, but he rejects Patripassianism, a heresy of the Old Church. This study breaks new ground by taking Luther a step further arguing that only a trinitarian theology of the cross is genuine Christian theology, and that the suffering of Christ touches the immanent Trinity as well as the economic Trinity.