Celebrate Jürgen Moltmann's legacy w a great discount
Jürgen Moltmann died on June 3. Could this maybe a good reason for Logos to celebrate his legacy by giving a great discount on his works through the remainder of the month June?
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Oh I didn't know he had passed. One of the last of the 20th century theological giants!
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Some thoughts on the occasion of Moltmann's passing from some of my fellow Regent College alumni:
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Jürgen Moltmann died yesterday.
We met on two occasions. On the second I asked him “what is the biggest theological question that you don’t have an answer to?”
He said: “Whether some are saved or all are saved.”Being a punk, I shot back “Ah, but I’ve read my Moltmann and you said on page x of book x that unless God saves everyone, God cannot be God. Haven’t you already answered that?”
He looked at me thoughtfully and said, “Well, that is my protest.”Rest in peace and May you fully know as you are fully known.
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Yesterday news spread quickly on social media (at least, on the feeds of people like myself!) of the death of Jürgen Moltmann, aged 98.Moltmann was one of the most influential theologians of our time and will be remembered in particular for bringing to the foreground the idea of "the crucified God" (first articulated as such by Luther) as central to the task of theology. That is, it is weakness, suffering and vulnerability where God is most clearly revealed. "God does not seek to dominate the world" he wrote, in one of his many famous lectures, this one on Genesis.Because of this emphasis, Moltmann's writings became central to the movement called "Liberation Theology", which emerged in South America and sought to understand God's mission primarily in socioeconomic and political terms - God is on the side of the poor, the marginalised, the down-trodden. Liberation theology went much further though, and offered a searing critique of white, male, privileged theology, arguing that such "Western theology" served not the purposes of the community and its underprivileged, but rather served its own (capitalist, patriarchal, economic) interests. Understandably then, his work is important for other so-called "hermeneutics of liberation", such as feminist theology.A second pillar of Moltmann's theology is hope, made manifest to us through the Spirit of God. Hope as a present, transformative reality, not a pie-in-the-sky ideal. Of course, Moltmann himself saw these two ideas - the crucified God and the God of hope - as inseparable, intertwined realities. And decisive in this was his early experience as a prisoner of war during WWII, where both suffering and hope were existentially prominent.For me personally, in my journey to priesthood, I was deeply moved by - and have sought to live by - Moltmann's statement that "One cannot stand before the people unless one has first stood alongside the people", echoing both theological sentiments above, albeit indirectly. For Moltmann, solidarity is always foundational. God's solidarity with suffering humanity is the ground of our solidarity with others, wherever they are.-------------------When I first started teaching at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology, I joked that Jürgen Moltmann was in every one of my classes, even if we weren't reading his work. Such was his impact on students. I eventually taught a Moltmann seminar so that I could do a deep dive into his theology. I'm grateful for how he taught me to think and critique theologically, and though I don't always agree with his arguments, I cannot deny he has shaped me as a theologian in significant ways. His work pushed me to think about how theology impacts day-to-day life.Jürgen Moltmann (April 8, 1926-June 3, 2024), you will be missed. Thank you for provoking our theological minds and hearts!“Christian eschatology could retain its leading role in theology as a whole, yet still remain a piece of sterile theologizing if we fail to attain to the new thought and action that are consequently necessary in our dealings with the things and conditions of this world. As long as hope does not embrace and transform the thought and action of [humanity], it remains topsy-turvy and ineffective. Hence Christian eschatology must make the attempt to introduce hope into worldly thinking, and thought into the believing of hope.”Moltmann, Theology of Hope, 33-------------------Thinking of JÜRGEN MOLTMAAN (8 April 1926-3 June 2024)Although I never had the opportunity to meet him, I am very thankful for his life and writings. I wrote the following in Towards Friendship-Shaped Communities.“Liberation-oriented thoughts on friendship emerge in the writings of German theologian Jürgen Moltmann, who, after being drafted and taken prisoner as a teenager in the Second World War, was helped and forgiven by his captors. These experiences contributed towards a sense of sympathy and solidarity with those experiencing oppression, along with a deep awareness of God’s participation in human suffering and hope.… Moltmann came to see friendship as essential to ethical life, and as the enduring element in all loves.”-------------------A couple of obituaries:
Church Times (UK): https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/7-june/news/world/professor-juergen-moltmann-dies-aged-98
Christianity Today: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2024/june/moltmann-obit-theology-hope.html
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And some quote-memes that various friends have posted:
I regret that I have not yet read any Moltmann, but this makes me want to more and more!I have all of Moltmann's works that Logos carries.0 -
He was a definite giant in Theological Research of the 20th and 21st centuries. His work paved the way for future discourse in theology. May he rest in peace.
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Even FF has today an article about him:
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/06/the-night-i-met-jrgen-moltmann
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