Christian Theologian
4 / 08 / 1926
I first encountered the writings of Jurgan Moltmann in the Systematic Theology class of Professor Frank Tupper in 1990, at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The writings of Moltmann had a deeper impact on my theological education than any other thinker that I encountered in my education there.
Within the four decades beginning in 1964, Moltmann wrote over a dozen major books in theology. Some evangelicals have proof texted and criticized selections of Moltmann's writings to to differentiate him from their views of orthodox conservative Christian thought. I have never felt that to be a helpful strategy, and in any event, I have found the core of his theological insights to be not only helpful to my personal theological understanding, but in my opinion, essential to the renewal of twentieth and twenty-first century Christian thought in the light of post-modernity, the realities of twentieth century war, post-critical thought, and the attempted Christian responses to these historical and intellectual developments. In Moltmann I have found a deeply biblical response to the historical and contemporary human condition which brings an understanding of God and of the gospel of Jesus to bear upon our circumstances in a compelling way, comprehensive and universal in its reach, yet demonstrating the essential loving, compassionate, creative, and social nature of a just God.
As I am not above appropriating available material for the purposes of journalism and education, I have attached below a selection from the Wikipedia article on Moltmann's life. Also, at the end of this post, I have placed a list of the titles and dates of the twenty posts that are found in my blog on the writings of Moltmann.
"Moltmann was drafted into military service in 1944, when he became a soldier in the German army. Ordered to the Klever Reichswald, a German forest at the front lines, he surrendered in 1945 in the dark to the first British soldier he met. For the next few years (1945–48), he was confined as a prisoner of war and moved from camp to camp.
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 Auschwitz and Buchenwald (concentration camps where Jews and others the Nazis opposed had been imprisoned and killed). Moltmann claimed his remorse was so great, he often felt he would have rather died along with many of his comrades than live to face what their nation had done.
Moltmann met a group of Christians in the camp, and was given a small copy of the New Testament and Psalms by an American chaplain. He gradually felt more and more identification with and reliance on the Christian faith. Moltmann later claimed, "I didn't find Christ, he found me."
After Belgium, he was transferred to a POW camp in Kilmarnock, Scotland, where he worked with other Germans to rebuild areas damaged in the bombing. The hospitality of the Scottish residents toward the prisoners left a great impression upon him. In July 1946, he was transferred for the last time to Norton Camp, a British prison located in the village of Cuckney near Nottingham, UK. The camp was operated by the YMCA and here Moltmann met many students of theology. At Norton Camp, he discovered Reinhold Niebuhr's Nature and Destiny of Man—it was the first book of theology he had ever read, and Moltmann claimed it had a huge impact on his life. His experience as a POW gave him a great understanding of how suffering and hope reinforce each other, leaving a lasting impression on his theology.
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'.[10] 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.[11] His two most famous works are Theology of Hope and The Crucified God."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Moltmann
Selections from The Crucified God (1974)
1. The Cross Confronts All of Christian Theology, June 13, 2019
2. 20th Century Crisis of Theology, June 20
3. The Liberating Anti-Religion of the Cross, June 23
4. Interpretations of the Cross: Sacrifice, June 25
5. Interpretations of the Cross: Mysticism of Suffering, June 27
6. Interpretations of the Cross: Following Jesus. July 11
7. Interpretations of the Cross: Luther’s Theology of the Cross (theologia crucis), July 18
8. The Cross and the Trinity, August 15
9. How We Misuse Natural Theology, August 22
10. Protest Atheism and the Problem of Evil, August 29
11. Jesus and the Nature of God, September 5
12. Surrender, Love, Life, Freedom, September 26, 2019
Selections from Theology of Hope, 1964 (Posted 3/31/12)
1. Eschatology and Christian Hope
2. Faith, Hope, and the Church’s Role in Society
Selections from The Trinity and The Kingdom, 1980 (Posted 3/31/12)
1. Can God Suffer (Or, why the Greek concept of God is the wrong place to start)
2. God Longs for Us, and Our Free and Creative Response
3. The God of Natural Theology or the Personal Triune God
4. Atheism Run Aground on the Rock of Suffering
5. God and Suffering Belong Together
6. Two Types of Freedom – Lordship or Friendship