Young, Deanna M. Unblaming God: Interpreting the Old Testament Through the Lens of Jesus. Grasmere: SacraSage Press, 2023, 164 pp.

Unblaming God from a pastoral perspective.She begins her book by describing her interaction with John, a man that came to her church.He was in distress -even though he and his wife were "good Christians", she developed cancer and passed away.Then, he moved for work only to be told they could not hire him due to a loan that was defaulted on by his now late wife.As more and more went wrong for this young man, he was devastated and was ready to end his life.Young recalls this story as the impetus for her book.This book is written to answer these quintessential questions: Why do bad things happen to good people?And why does Jesus seem so different from God?Young approaches this question from an Open and Relational Theological (ORT) framework.She begins with laying out the argument for God's love as more than an attribute, rather love being the essence of God.Second, she reframes classical notions of God -omnipotence, omniscience, timelessness, immutability, and impassibilitythrough the ORT lens.Finally, she revisits touchstone biblical stories that deal with theodicy, including the Flood, the sacrifice of Issac, the Canaanite Conquest narrative, and the story of Job.God as Love is not a new idea to Young.While it can be found throughout the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, the reframing of the idea that God is the same as Love is a central tenet of ORT.For Young, when talking about God, you should be able to replace the word with 'Love' without distorting the meaning of love (p.14).God as steadfast love, found in the Hebrew Bible over one hundred times, is defined as "love [that] is unwavering, resolute, persistent, committed, dedicated, loyal, dependable, faithful, devoted love" (p.15).Young employs essential kenosis as the definition of love and the inability of God to go against that love.Because God must be self-giving, God cannot control and must be "others-empowering" (p.21).This love is on display as Jesus is the human embodiment of God and "God's self-giving was not a choice God made but necessarily who God is.God wouldn't be love if God were not self-giving" (p.21).Love is not an attribute of God that can be subservient to power or used to further Their sovereignty.Love is synonymous with God and therefore is self-giving and cooperative.Open and Relational Theology reframes many of the classical notions of God, including Their power, agency, and knowledge.Young uses the framework of