The Kingdom and the Power: The Theology of Juergen Moltmann

by Geiko Muller Fahrenholz

Overview

Jürgen Moltmann is arguably the most important German-speaking Protestant thinker since World War II. Recent publication of Experiences in Theology completes his six "Contributions to Systematic Theology" and makes possible an informed and intelligent overview of this theological giant's lifework.

Müller-Fahrenholz traces Moltmann's thought from its beginnings in his conversion experience in a British P.O.W. camp and his decisive encounter with both the Holocaust and the cross, to his archimedean insights in Theology of Hope and The Crucified God. He then examines Moltmann's turn to liberation theology in 1979 and the flowering of his thought in the systematic volumes since then.

The Kingdom and the Power gets at "the theological passion on which Moltmann's manifold and extensive work draws" and explains the chief themes: the future as a horizon of hope, the suffering God, the dynamics of Trinity, as well as its relation to recent German theology and its use of Reformation, Jewish, and other thought.

This invaluable guide enables readers to appreciate the awesome systematic power of Moltmann's vision and his relentless pursuit of divine knowledge and human flourishing.

About the Author:
Geiko Müller-Fahrenholz, a former student of Jürgen Moltmann, is a minister of the United Lutheran Church of Germany and a freelance writer and researcher.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451408386
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	07/28/2001
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	552 KB

Table of Contents

	Preface	11
1.	In the Prison Camp: Liberation	15
1.	A success story?	15
2.	'Operation Gomorrah'	16
3.	The quest for God begins near to death	18
4.	The Bible boy: conversion to and with the Bible	20
5.	Friendship in a foreign land	21
6.	After Auschwitz: only the suffering God can help	23
7.	Imprisoned yet free	24
2.	Community against the Horizon of the Rule of Christ	26
1.	The context: steps towards independence	26
2.	The focus of the programme: the horizon of the rule of Christ	30
3.	A programmatic writing without an echo	36
3.	Hope, or In the Undertow of the Kingdom	40
1.	Bonn 1964	40
2.	Theology of Hope: the most important arguments	42
(a)	Bloch's Principle of Hope baptized?	42
(b)	Theology of Hope: basic content	44
3.	A retrospect	57
4.	Everything is Decided by the Cross	62
1.	El Dios Crucificado	62
2.	The Crucified God	63
(a)	Who is God on the cross of the Godforsaken One?	64
(b)	Who is this man?	67
(c)	The cross--the suffering God	71
(d)	Following the Crucified One--the compassionate	74
3.	Summary: the programmatic element in The Crucified God	77
5.	In the Fellowship of the Spirit of God	80
1.	Convergences	80
(a)	The trinitarian dynamic	80
(b)	The 'oppressed Christians throughout the world'	81
(c)	The messianic Spirit of God in a time of uncertainty	83
2.	The Church in the Power of the Spirit--a sketch of the content	84
(a)	'The church of Jesus Christ'	85
(b)	'The church of the kingdom of God'	90
(c)	'The church as a community of messianic service to the kingdom of God'	94
3.	Unclear signals? Notes on a programmatic writing which is not one	100
(a)	Comparisons with 'The Community against the Horizon of the Rule of Christ'	100
(b)	Universalism and the church	102
(c)	Church and community	103
(d)	Ecclesiology and ethics	105
6.	On Being a Christian--The Messianic Fragment	107
1.	Introduction: Why there is no 'ethic'	107
2.	The passion for the kingdom--ethical approaches	111
3.	Friendship in a messianic light	116
4.	The quest for the subject: community--people--humankind	118
5.	Fragment as chance	121
7.	Liberation Theology for the First World? The 1977 Turning Point	123
1.	Where is nowhere?	123
2.	Liberation theology for the First World	126
(a)	The first step: separation	128
(b)	The second step: identity	131
(c)	The third step: integration	133
8.	On Unification--The Theology of the Trinity as a Retelling of God's History of Love	137
1.	Convergences	137
(a)	'Unification of God'--An argument for trinitarian thinking from Jewish belief in God	138
(b)	The Abba mystery	140
2.	Developments	142
(a)	God's passion narrative	142
(b)	The salvation of the world in the passion of God	144
(c)	Perichoresis and movement	146
3.	The practical relevance of trinitarian thinking	147
4.	Is trinitarian thinking a form of mysticism?	150
9.	Creation: The Wonder of Existence	153
1.	Creation as indwelling	153
2.	The crown of creation: God's sabbath	156
3.	Human beings as the image of the Trinity	160
4.	The partners and the opponents	163
5.	For a habitable world	164
10.	Under Way on the Way of the Messiah	167
1.	The messianic	167
2.	The 'way' of Jesus Christ	170
3.	A 'postmodern' christology	172
4.	In conclusion: two impressions of a reader	177
11.	The Superabundance of the Power of God	182
1.	God's ruach--creative power and power of life	184
2.	Experience--the medium of ruach	186
3.	Living in the Spirit--the dynamic of grace	188
(a)	Liberation	189
(b)	Justification	190
(c)	Rebirth	192
(d)	Sanctification	194
(e)	Charismatic power	195
4.	The Holy Spirit as person	196
12.	What Remains is Expectation: The Coming of God	200
1.	'He who comes'--time in the advent of God	201
2.	What will become of me?	204
(a)	Resurrection of the flesh	205
(b)	Death and sin	206
(c)	Where are the dead?	207
3.	Time itself becomes different	207
4.	When God is all in all--the restoration of all things	213
5.	Soli Deo gloria--in the realm of glory	215
13.	Contemporary and Comrade of the Kingdom	219
1.	The contemporary	219
2.	The comrade of the kingdom	221
3.	Comrade and friend	223
4.	Comradely theology	224
14.	Discovering the Inviting Mystery--Messianism and Mysticism in Moltmann's Theology	230
1.	The central theme: history in the advent of God	230
2.	World history as 'anonymous' kingdom of God history?	232
3.	A speculative theology?	235
4.	Talking about God is talking to God	237
5.	The mystical ground of theology	240
6.	Kingdom of God--kingdom of freedom	242
	A Select Bibliography of the Works of Jurgen Moltmann	245
	Notes	249