Jürgen Moltmann
Jürgen Moltmann | |
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Evangelical Church in Germany | |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
Doctoral advisor | Otto Weber |
Influences | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Reformed Protestantism |
Institutions | |
Doctoral students | |
Notable works |
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Influenced |
Jürgen Moltmann (born 8 April 1926) is a German
Moltmann is the husband of
Moltmann developed a form of liberation theology predicated on the view that God suffers with humanity, while also promising humanity a better future through the hope of the Resurrection, which he has labelled a 'theology of hope'.[14] Much of Moltmann's work has been to develop the implications of these ideas for various areas of theology. Moltmann has become known for developing a form of social trinitarianism.[15] His two most famous works are Theology of Hope and The Crucified God.[16] Moltmann also served as a mentor to Miroslav Volf.[17]
Life and career
Youth
Moltmann was born in
World War II
He took his entrance exam to proceed with his education but instead went to war as an Air Force auxiliary in the German army. "The 'iron rations' in the way of reading matter which he took with him into the miseries of war were
He was first confined in Belgium. In the camp at Belgium, the prisoners were given little to do. Moltmann and his fellow prisoners were tormented by "memories and gnawing thoughts"—Moltmann claimed to have lost all hope and confidence in German culture because of the atrocities at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. They also glimpsed photographs nailed up confrontationally in their huts, bare photographs of Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.[22]
Moltmann met a group of
After the war
Moltmann returned home at 22 years of age to find his hometown of Hamburg (in fact, much of his country) in ruins from Allied bombing in World War II. Moltmann immediately went to work in an attempt to express a theology that would reach what he called "the survivors of [his] generation". Moltmann had hope that the example of the "Confessing Church" during the war would be repeated in new ecclesiastical structures. He and many others were disappointed to see, instead, a rebuilding on pre-war models in a cultural attempt to forget entirely the recent period of deadly hardship.
In 1947, he and four others were invited to attend the first postwar Student Christian Movement in Swanwick, a conference center near Derby, England. What happened there affected him very deeply. Moltmann returned to Germany to study at the University of Göttingen, an institution whose professors were followers of Karl Barth and theologians who were engaged with the confessing [non-state] church in Germany.
He received his doctorate from the
Theological views
The early Moltmann can be seen in his trilogy, Theology of Hope (1964), The Crucified God (1972), and The Church in the Power of the Spirit (1975):
- Theology of Hope was strongly influenced by the Ernst Bloch's The Principle of Hope.
- The Crucified God posited that God died on the Cross, raising the question of the impassibility of God.
- The Church in the Power of the Spirit explores the implications of these explorations for the church in its own life and in the world.
The later Moltmann took a less systematic approach to theology, leading to what he called his "systematic contributions to theology"[24] that sought to provoke and engage more than develop some kind of set Moltmannian theology.
Moltmann corroborates his ideas with those of Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Jews in an attempt to reach a greater understanding of Christian theology, which he believes should be developed ecumenically.
Moltmann has a passion for the Kingdom of God as it exists both in the future, and in the God of the present. His theology is often referred to as "Kingdom of God" Theology. His theology is built on eschatology, and the hope found in the resurrected Christ. This theology is most clearly explained in his book Theology of Hope.
Moltmann's theology is also seen as a theology of liberation, though not in the sense that the term is most understood. Moltmann not only views salvation as Christ's "preferential option for the poor," but also as offering the hope of reconciliation to the oppressors of the poor. If it were not as such, divine reconciliation would be insufficient.
Systematic contributions
Jürgen Moltmann's most significant works consist of two sets of theological work: the first is his Contributions to Systematic Theology and the second is his Original Trinity.[5]
Jürgen Moltmann's original trinity
- Theology of Hope (1967); Theologie der Hoffnung (1964);[5]
- The Crucified God (1974); Der gekreuzigte Gott (1972)[5]
- The Church in the Power of the Spirit (1975); Kirche in der Kraft des Geistes (1975)[5]
Jürgen Moltmann's systematic contributions
- The Trinity and the Kingdom: The Doctrine of God (1981); Trinität und Reich Gottes. Zur Gotteslehre (1980)[5]
- God in Creation: An Ecological Doctrine of Creation (1985); Gott in der Schöpfung. Ökologische Schöpfungslehre (1985)[5]
- The Way of Jesus Christ: Christology in Messianic Dimensions (1990); Der Weg Jesu Christi. Christologie in messianischen Dimensionen (1989)[5]
- The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation (1992); Der Geist des Lebens. Eine ganzheitliche Pneumatologie (1991)[5]
- The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology (1996) Das Kommen Gottes. Christliche Eschatologie (1995)[5]
- Experiences in Theology: Ways and Forms of Christian Theology (2000); Erfahrungen theologisen Denkens (2000) [5]
- Ethics of Hope (2012); Ethik der Hoffnung (2010)[5]
Eschatology: theology of hope
Moltmann's theology of hope is a theological perspective with an eschatological foundation and focuses on the hope that the resurrection brings. Through faith we are bound to Christ, and as such have the hope of the resurrected Christ ("Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3, NIV)), and knowledge of his return. For Moltmann, the hope of the Christian faith is hope in the resurrection of Christ crucified. Hope and faith depend on each other to remain true and substantial; and only with both may one find "not only a consolation in suffering, but also the protest of the divine promise against suffering".[25]
However, because of this hope we hold, we may never exist harmoniously in a society such as ours which is based on sin. When following the theology of hope, a Christian should find hope in the future but also experience much discontentment with the way the world is now, corrupt and full of sin. Sin bases itself in hopelessness, which can take on two forms: presumption and despair. "Presumption is a premature, selfwilled anticipation of the fulfillment of what we hope for from God. Despair is the premature, arbitrary anticipation of the non-fulfillment of what we hope for from God."[26]
In Moltmann's opinion, all should be seen from an eschatological perspective, looking toward the days when Christ will make all things new. "A proper theology would therefore have to be constructed in the light of its future goal. Eschatology should not be its end, but its beginning."[27] This does not, as many fear, 'remove happiness from the present' by focusing all ones attention toward the hope for Christ's return. Moltmann addresses this concern as such: "Does this hope cheat man of the happiness of the present? How could it do so! For it is itself the happiness of the present."[28] The importance of the current times is necessary for the theology of hope because it brings the future events to the here and now. This theological perspective of eschatology makes the hope of the future, the hope of today.
Hope strengthens faith and aids a believer into living a life of love, and directing them toward a new creation of all things. It creates in a believer a "passion for the possible" [29] "For our knowledge and comprehension of reality, and our reflections on it, that means at least this: that in the medium of hope our theological concepts become not judgments which nail reality down to what it is, but anticipations which show reality its prospects and its future possibilities."[29] This passion is one that is centered around the hope of the resurrected and the returning Christ, creating a change within a believer and drives the change that a believer seeks make on the world.
For Moltmann, creation and eschatology depend on one another. There exists an ongoing process of creation, continuing creation, alongside creatio ex nihilo and the consummation of creation. The consummation of creation will consist of the eschatological transformation of this creation into the new creation.[30] The apocalypse will include the purging of sin from our finite world so that a transformed humanity can participate in the new creation.
Liberation theology
Moltmann's liberation theology includes an understanding of both the oppressed and the oppressor as needing reconciliation. "Oppression has two sides: on one side there is the master, on the other side the slave... Oppression destroys humanity on both sides."[31] The goal is one of mutual liberation. God's 'preferential option for the poor' should not be exclusive, but rather include the rich; insofar as God holds judgment over them also. The sufferings of the poor should not be seen as equal to or a representation of the sufferings of Jesus. Our suffering is not an offering to God, it is not required of us to suffer. The point of the crucified Christ was to present an alternative to human suffering. Human suffering is not a quality of salvation, and should not be viewed as such. This is not to say that the sufferings of humans is of no importance to God.
This "mutual liberation" necessarily involves a "liberation of oppressors from the evil they commit; otherwise there can be no liberation for a new community in justice and freedom."[32] However, the liberation of the oppressed takes priority and must involve their own agency in order for true justice and reconciliation to be enacted: "In order to achieve this goal, the oppressed will have to free themselves from the constraints of oppression and cut themselves off from their oppressors, so as to find themselves and their own humanity. It is only after that that they can try to find a truly humane community with their previous oppressors."[32] This seeks to avoid either the dependency of the oppressed or the co-optation of the struggles of the oppressed by the oppressor. It is with this sensibility that Moltmann explores, in his Experiences in Theology, what various liberation theologies might mean for the oppressor: Black theology for whites, Latin American liberation theology for the First World, feminist theology for men, etc. He also moves beyond oppression as a mere personal sin and instead calls for oppressors to withdraw from the "structures of violence" that destroy the lives of the oppressed.[33]
Trinitarian theology
Moltmann stresses the perichoresis of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is to say that he believes the three dwell in one another. The three persons are differentiated in their characteristics, but related in their original exchange.[34] Moltmann seeks to defeat a monotheistic Christianity that is being used as a tool for political and clerical absolute monarchism. He believes the doctrine of the Trinity should be developed as the "true theological doctrine of freedom."[35] He suggests that we "cease to understand God monotheistically as the one, absolute subject, but instead see him in a trinitarian sense as the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit."[36]
Moltmann relates his views on the trinity to three modes of human freedom. The first mode is the political meaning of freedom as supremacy. This mode is rejected by Moltmann, who sees it as corresponding to a God who rules over his creation, which exists merely to serve Him. It is a relation of a subject with an object, where the goal is to enhance the supremacy of the subject. The second mode of human freedom is the socio-historical and Hegelian meaning of freedom as communion, which implies the relation between two subjects. This relationship aims at love and solidarity, and corresponds to the perichoresis of the Father and Son, and through the Son the children of God, or humanity. This relationship is both liberating and loving, and is one Moltmann favors. The third mode of human freedom is the implicitly religious concept of freedom as the passion of the creature for his or her potential. This deals with the relationship between subjects and their common future project. This is the mode favored most by Moltmann, who correlates this relationship with the one humans share with God in the realm of the Holy Spirit. Here, an indwelling of the Spirit allows humans to be friends with God. As you can see, the first mode of freedom is political, and focuses on The Father; the second is communal, focusing on the Son; and the third is religious, focusing on the Spirit.[36]
Influences
Upon his return to Germany in 1948, Moltmann began his course of study at Göttingen University, where he was strongly influenced by Karl Barth's
Moltmann cites the English pacifist and anti-capitalist theologian
The background influence in all these thinkers is Hegel, who is referenced more times than any other writer in the Theology of Hope. Like the
For Moltmann's second major work, The Crucified God, the philosophical inspiration comes from a different tendency within Marxist philosophy. In "Explanation of the Theme", his introduction to the book, Moltmann acknowledges that the direction of his questioning has shifted to that of
The title of Moltmann's crucial work, however, is derived not from
In the Spring 2004 Pneuma, Moltmann cites Johann and Christoph Blumhardt as being major contributors to his thought.
Bibliography of works in English
Major works
- Theology of Hope: On the Ground and the Implications of a Christian Eschatology, SCM, London, 1967
- The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ As the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology, SCM, London, 1973
- The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology, SCM, London, 1975
- The Trinity and the Kingdom: The Doctrine of God, Harper and Row, New York, 1981
- God in Creation, SCM, London, 1985
- The Way of Jesus Christ, SCM, London, 1990
- The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation, SCM, London, 1992
- The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology, Fortress, Minneapolis, 1996
- Experiences in Theology: Ways and Forms of Christian Theology, SCM, London, 2000
Other works
- "The Lordship of Christ and Human Society," in Two Studies in the Theology of Bonhoeffer, pp. 19–94, 1967
- Theology of Joy, SCM, London, 1972 (American edition: Theology of Play, Harper & Row, New York, 1972 [note: pagination differs])
- Religion, Revolution and the Future, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1969
- Hope and Planning, Harper & Row, New York, 1971
- The Gospel of Liberation, Word, Waco, Texas, 1973
- Human Identity in Christian Faith, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1974
- Man: Christian Anthropology in the Conflicts of the Present, SPCK, London, 1974 (Reprinted as On Human Being: Christian Anthropology in the Conflicts of the Present, Fortress, Minneapolis, 2009)
- The Experiment Hope, SCM, London, 1975
- The Open Church, SCM, London, 1978 (American edition: The Passion for Life: A Messianic Lifestyle, Fortress, Philadelphia, 1978)
- Meditations on the Passion: Two Meditations on Mark 8:31-38, Paulist, New York, 1979
- The Future of Creation, SCM, London, 1979
- Experiences of God, SCM, 1980
- God–His and Hers, Crossroad, New York, 1981
- Jewish Monotheism and Christian Trinitarian Doctrine: A Dialogue by Pinchas Lapide and Jürgen Moltmann, Fortress, Philadelphia, 1981
- Following Jesus Christ in the World Today: Responsibility for the World and Christian Discipleship, Institute of Mennonite Studies, Elkhart, IN, 1983
- Humanity in God, Pilgrim, New York, 1983
- The Power of the Powerless, SCM, London, 1983
- On Human Dignity: Political Theology and Ethics, Fortress, Philadelphia, 1984
- Communities of Faith and Radical Discipleship, Mercer University Press, Macon, 1986
- Theology Today: Two Contributions Towards Making Theology Present, Trinity International, Philadelphia, 1988
- Creating a Just Future: The Politics of Peace and the Ethics of Creation in a Threatened World, Trinity International, Philadelphia, 1989
- History and the Triune God: Contributions to Trinitarian Theology, SCM, London, 1991
- Jesus Christ for Today's World, SCM, London, 1994
- Theology and the Future of the Modern World, Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, Pittsburgh, PA, 1995
- The Source of Life, SCM, London, 1997
- A Passion for God's Reign, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1998
- Is There Life After Death?, Marquette University Press, Milwaukee, 1998
- Passion for God: Theology in Two Voices, Westminster John Knox, Louisville, KY, 2003
- Science and Wisdom, SCM, London, 2003
- In the End the Beginning, SCM, London, 2004
- A Broad Place: An Autobiography, Minneapolis, Fortress, 2009
- Sun of Righteousness, Arise! God's Future for Humanity and the World, Fortress, Minneapolis, 2010
- Ethics of Hope, Fortress, Minneapolis, 2012
- Jürgen Moltmann: Collected Readings, Fortress, Minneapolis, 2014
- The Living God and the Fullness of Life, Westminster John Knox, Louisville, KY, 2015
- The Spirit of Hope: Theology for a World in Peril, Westminster John Knox Louisville, KY, 2019
Articles and chapters
- ″Is 'Pluralistic Theology' Useful for the Dialogue of World Religions?″ in D’Costa, Gavin, Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990)
- "The Passibility or Impassibility of God: Answers to J. K. Mozley's "Six Necessary Questions" in Anthony Clarke and Andrew Moore, Within the Love of God: Essays on the Doctrine of God in Honour of Paul S. Fiddes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)
- "Is the world unfinished? On interactions between science and theology in the concepts of nature, time and the future", Theology, vol. 114, no. 6 (Nov 2011). Boyle Lecture, with response by A. J. Torrance
See also
Footnotes
- ISBN 9789004339668.
- ^ Olson, Roger E. (8 September 2014). "Wolfhart Pannenberg R.I.P." Roger E. Olson: My Evangelical Arminian Theologian Musings. Patheos. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- Williams, Stephen (2018). "John Polkinghorne on the Doctrine of Creation". Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding. Deerfield, Illinois: Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ Jürgen Moltmann, the life power of hope, Trinity Wall street, archived from the original on 25 September 2017, retrieved 10 April 2013
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Jürgen Moltmann's Systematic Contributions (and Original Trinity)". The PostBarthian. 11 August 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
- ISBN 978-0800696542.
- ^ Moltmann. A Broad Place. p. 251.
- ^ Moltmann. A Broad Place. p. 291.
- ^ Moltmann. A Broad Place. pp. 319–320.
- ^ Moltmann. A Broad Place. pp. 370–371.
- ^ "Jürgen Moltmann receives honorary doctorate from Pretoria University". World Council of Churches. 6 April 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
- ISBN 978-0800628239.
- ^ "2000– Jürgen Moltmann". Religion. Grawemeyer. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014.
- ^ Wood bridge, Revisiting Moltmann's theology of hope (PDF), ZA: SATS.
- ^ "Ethics, hope", Christian century, September 2012.
- ^ "Jürgen Moltmann, b. 1926", Modern, postmodern theologians, Theological studies.
- ^ CFA AA.
- ^ The items were a gift from his sister. In other places, Moltmann mentions that "Faust" was included in the collection of Goethe's poetry.
- ^ C. Ellis Nelson, "How Faith Matures", Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 1989, p. 96
- ^ Moltmann, Juergen. "Theology of Joy - Moltmann interview with Volf". YouTube. Yale School of Divinity. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-8091-4713-7.
- ^ The initial reaction of the prisoners to these photos was that they were British propaganda.
- ^ Gifford Lecture Series – Biography – Jurgen Moltmann
- ^ Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981), xi.
- ^ Moltmann, Theology of Hope, pg.21
- ^ Moltmann, Theology of Hope, pg. 23
- ^ Moltmann, Theology of Hope
- ^ Moltmann, Theology of Hope, pg. 32
- ^ a b Moltmann, Theology of Hope, pg. 35
- ^ Moltmann, God in Creation, 88
- ^ Moltmann, Erfahrungen, 168
- ^ OCLC 44313372.
- OCLC 44313372.
- ^ Moltmann, Trinitat, 169
- ^ Trinitat, 107
- ^ a b Trinitat
- ^ Moltmann, J: Theology of Hope, SCM, London, 1967, p. 51.
- ^ Moltman, J: Theology of Hope, SCM, London, 1967, p. 45.
- )
- ^ J. Moltmann, The Crucified God, London: SCM, 1974, p. 47.
Works cited
- Jürgen Moltmann, "Why Am I a Christian?" in Experiences of God (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980).
- Jürgen Moltmann, "An Autobiographical Note" in A. J. Conyers, God, Hope and History: Jürgen Moltmann and the Christian Concept of History (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1988).
- Jürgen Moltmann, Foreword to M. Douglas Meeks, Origins of the Theology of Hope (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974).
- Jürgen Moltmann, address given at Nazarene Theological Seminary, December 10, 2001.
- Jürgen Moltmann, "Stubborn Hope", interviewer Christopher A. Hall, Christianity Today, vol. 37, no. 1 (January 11, 1993).
- Public Theology: Jurgen Moltmann: The Theology of Hope. 11, 1993.
Further reading
- Moltmann: Messianic Theology in the Making, by Richard Bauckham, Basingstoke, Marshall Pickering, 1987
- God, Hope, and History: Jürgen Moltmann and the Christian Concept of History, by A. J. Conyers, Mercer, GA, Mercer University, 1988
- The Creative Suffering of God, by Paul S. Fiddes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988
- The Theology of Jürgen Moltmann, by Richard Bauckham, Edinburgh, T & T Clark, 1995
- The Future of Theology: Essays in Honour of Jürgen Moltmann, ed. M. Volf, Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 1996
- God Will Be All in All: The Eschatology of Jürgen Moltmann, ed. Richard Bauckham, Edinburgh, T & T Clark, 1999
- Disavowing Constantine: Mission, Church and the Social Order in the Theologies of John H. Yoder and Jürgen Moltmann, by Nigel Wright, Carlisle, Paternoster, 2000
- The Kingdom and the Power: The Theology of Jürgen Moltmann, by Geiko Muller-Fahrenholz, Minneapolis, Fortress, 2001
- Spirit of the Last Days: Pentecostal Eschatology in Conversation with Jürgen Moltmann, by Peter Althouse, London, T & T Clark, 2003. (Foreword by Moltmann)
- Jürgen Moltmann's Ethics of Hope: Eschatological Possibilities For Moral Action, by Timothy Harvie, Burlington, VT, Ashgate 2009. (Foreword by Moltmann)
- Theology as Hope: On the Ground and Implications of Jürgen Moltmann's Doctrine of Hope, Princeton Theological Monograph Series, No. 99, by Ryan A. Neal, Eugene, OR, Pickwick Publications, 2009.
- VILELA, D. M. Utopias esquecidas. Origens da Teologia da Libertação. São Paulo: Fonte Editorial, 2013. ISBN 9788566480276
- Aguzzi, Steven D. Israel, the Church, and Millenarianism: A Way Beyond Replacement Theology, with a Foreword by Jürgen Moltmann. New York: Routledge, 2017. ISBN 9781472485229
External links
- Jürgen Moltmann Reading Room: Extensive primary and secondary sources on-line (Tyndale Seminary)
- Jürgen Moltmann Bibliography: Various bibliographies of primary and secondary works
- English Language Bibliography of Moltmann's Works: Non-exhaustive, up to 1996
- Article on Moltmann at The Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Modern Western Theology
- Discussion Group devoted to Moltmann and the Theology of Hope
- Jürgen Moltmann at Theopedia (conservative Calvinistperspective)
- Jürgen Moltmann: The Life-Power of Hope