The Fear of God in Frederick Buechner's The Son of Laughter

Abstract: One of the most striking details of Frederick Buechner's The Son of Laughter is its name for God: "the Fear." While this name might suggest a God of wrath, the novel portrays instead a God of love who patiently waits to bless people, if they would only accept his blessing. A look at the novel in relation to the theologies of Karl Barth and Paul Tillich and in the context of Buechner's other writings shows that God's character in the novel is fearsome because the blessing he gives requires that human characters come to terms with their frailty and finiteness.