Theology of Hope

Theology of Hope

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Theology of Hope by Jurgen Moltmann

J?rgen Moltmann is a German theologian notable for his incorporation of insights from liberation theology and ecology into mainstream trinitarian Christian theology. He was Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of T?bingen in Germany. Theology of Hope was published by Harper & Row, New York and Evanston, 1965. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock.

(ENTIRE BOOK) A classic inquiry into the ground of Christian hope and the responsible exercise of hope in thought and action in the world today.

Preface

The theme of hope is considered in an eschatological light.

Introduction

The most serious objection to a theology of hope springs not from presumption or despair, for these two basic attitudes of human existence presuppose hope. The objection to hope arises from the religion of humble acquiescence in the present situation.

Chapter 1: Eschatology And Revelation

Christian theology will not be able to come to terms with, but will have to free itself from, the cosmologico-mechanistic way of thinking such as is found in the positivistic sciences.

Chapter 2: Promise and History

Understanding world history in the perspective of the universal eschatological future is of tremendous importance for theology, for it makes eschatology the universal horizon of all theology. Without the apocalyptic, a theological eschatology remains bogged down in the ethnic history of mankind or the existential history of the individual.

Chapter 3: The Resurrection and the Future of Jesus Christ

What the future is bringing is something which, through the Christ event of the raising of the one who was crucified, has become `once and for all' a possible object of confident hope.

Chapter 4: Eschatology and History

If we are to understand the new present and to be able to live in it, then we must concern

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Theology of Hope

ourselves with the past, whether to bring the new experiences into harmony with the traditions of the past or to rid ourselves of the burden of the past and become free for the new present.

Chapter 5: Exodus Church: Observations on the Eschatological Understanding of Christianity in Modern Society

The world is not yet finished, but is engaged in a history. It is therefore the world of possibilities, the world in which we can serve the future, in which we are promised truth and righteousness and peace. Viewed 1179 times.

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Theology of Hope

return to religion-online

Theology of Hope by Jurgen Moltmann

J?rgen Moltmann is a German theologian notable for his incorporation of insights from liberation theology and ecology into mainstream trinitarian Christian theology. He was Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of T?bingen in Germany. Theology of Hope was published by Harper & Row, New York and Evanston, 1965. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock.

Preface

The following efforts bear the title Theology of Hope, not because they set out once again to present eschatology as a separate doctrine and to compete with the well known textbooks. Rather, their aim is to show how theology can set out from hope and begin to consider its theme in an eschatological light. For this reason they enquire into the ground of the hope of Christian faith and into the responsible exercise of this hope in thought and action in the world today. The various critical discussions should not be understood as rejections and condemnations. They are necessary conversations on a common subject which is so rich that it demands continual new approaches. Hence I hope they may make it clear that even critical questions can be a sign of theological partnership. I have thus to thank all who have stimulated, and all who have opposed me.

For the reading of the proofs and for many of the references I am grateful to my assistant, Mr Karl-Adolf Bauer.

Jurgen Moltmann

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE TEXT: AGFNRW Ver?ffentlichungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft f?r Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen

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Theology of Hope

ET English translation Ev Th Evangelische Theologie Exp T Expository Times NF Neue Folge NTS New Testament Studies RGG Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart TLZ Theologische Literaturzeitung TWNT Theologischcs W?rterbuch zum Neuen Testament VT Suppi. Supplements to Vetus Testamentum WA Complete Works of Luther, Weimarer Ausgabe ZTK Zeitschrift fur Theologie und Kirche

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Theology of Hope

return to religion-online

Theology of Hope by Jurgen Moltmann

J?rgen Moltmann is a German theologian notable for his incorporation of insights from liberation theology and ecology into mainstream trinitarian Christian theology. He was Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of T?bingen in Germany. Theology of Hope was published by Harper & Row, New York and Evanston, 1965. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock.

Introduction

I. What is the `Logos' of Christian Eschatology?

Eschatology was long called the `doctrine of the last things' or the `doctrine of the end'. By these last things were meant events which will one day break upon man, history and the world at the end of time. They included the return of Christ in universal glory, the judgment of the world and the consummation of the kingdom, the general resurrection of the dead and the new creation of all things. These end events were to break into this world from somewhere beyond history, and to put an end to the history in which all things here live and move. But the relegating of these events to the `last day' robbed them of their directive, uplifting and critical significance for all the days which are spent here, this side of the end, in history. Thus these teachings about the end led a peculiarly barren existence at the end of Christian dogmatics. They were like a loosely attached appendix that wandered off into obscure irrelevancies. They bore no relation to the doctrines of the cross and resurrection, the exaltation and sovereignty of Christ, and did not derive from these by any logical necessity. They were as far removed from them as All Souls' Day sermons are from Easter. The more Christianity became an organization for discipleship under the auspices of the Roman state religion and persistently upheld the claims of that religion, the more eschatology and its mobilizing, revolutionizing, and critical effects upon history as it has now to be lived were left to fanatical sects and revolutionary groups. Owing to the fact that Christian faith banished from its life the future hope by which it is upheld, and relegated the future to a beyond, or to eternity, whereas the biblical testimonies which

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