Conference paper

The Theological Way of Jürgen Moltmann

Ivan Karlić orcid.org/0000-0002-7550-0857 ; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

After the departure of great Protestant theologians-teachers, such as K. Barth, R. Bultmann, P. Tillich, and D. Bonhoeffer, J. Moltmann became the most influential figure in modern Protestant theology and is considered by many the forerunner of a new Protestantism. In the early sixties, Moltmann, with W. Pannenberg and some other theologians, set out a new course in contemporary Evangelical theology, giving it a new profile. Tirelessly working on the renewal of theology, he always tried to bring it closer to the concrete life, to today’s culture and today’s man. In all this, he offered three keys for reading theology: the eschatological (the theology of hope), the staurological (the theology of the Cross) and the political key (the theology of revolution). It can be rightly said that to Moltmann belongs the “fatherhood” of two theological movements that have had a great influence on today’s theology in general, both Protestant and Catholic, the theology of hope and theology of the Cross.
In reading Moltmann’s works and his projects on the theology of hope, theology of the Cross, messianic ecclesiology and Christology, as well as pneumatology, it can be rightly concluded that in the second half of the 20th century he had greatly enriched modern Christian theological thought. It should be particularly emphasized that he seriously takes history as a living reality and the foundation for his theology. Because of this he presents himself as one of the first European theologians that tried (quite successfully) to look at the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and to understand them within the framework of his historical-earthly life. He does not forget the problems that accompany and trouble the present world and man; by putting them in theological frameworks, he strives to find a way that would lead and bring the world and man to the general wellbeing, in the relationship between God and men, in relationships between men, and in the relationship between mankind and the whole of God’s creation. Because of all this, Moltmann is rightly placed among the most prominent and most prolific theologians of the last decades, who have left visible traces behind them and who are responsible for the development, deepening and advancement of Christian theology.

Keywords

Jürgen Moltmann; contemporary theology; theology of hope; theology of the Cross; messianic ecclesiology and Christology; dialogue

Hrčak ID:

190828

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/190828

Publication date:

18.12.2017.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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