Thinking with Theologians does pretty much what it says on the tin. In each course, we will take three weeks to grapple with some significant texts by notable Christian theologians, past and present, in the hope of expanding, deepening and challenging our understanding of what it might mean to talk about God. Each session will include a short presentation by the tutor, followed by a period of focused group discussion of a particular text or texts.
Sometimes the focus of the course will be on a particular figure or school of thought; sometimes it will be a particular theme or doctrine. Either way, the method will be the same: read carefully; reflect deeply; talk honestly – then see what happens.
Jürgen Moltmann was one of the most-read theologians of the latter part of the twentieth century. Beginning with his book Theology of Hope, he explored most of the central themes of Christian theology in a series of lively but careful volumes, often alongside shorter reflections on vital contemporary issues. We will explore a range of his key ideas, especially: hope; the cross; creation and the Spirit. Along the way, we will be considering what Moltmann’s work might have to teach us about theological method.
To do all of this we will use the extracts included in the anthology Jürgen Moltmann: Collected Readings:
https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800699895/Jurgen-Moltmann
Week 1 - Theology of Hope (extracts)
Questions for reflection:
- In section 1, Moltmann emphasises that Christian life and thought as a whole should be understood as having an eschatological character: ‘the eschatological outlook is characteristic of all Christian proclamation, of every Christian existence, and of the whole church’ (p. 9) What do you think he means by this? Does he convincingly show this to be the case?
- In his discussion of the nature of promise, Moltmann explores how the notion of promise relates to the sense of past and future, fulfilment, disappointment, etc. What do you make of his conclusion about the ‘inexhaustibility of the God of promise, who never exhausts himself in any historic reality but comes “to rest” only in a reality that wholly corresponds to him’ (p. 28)?
- In the final section, Moltmann explores the question of particularity and universality. He writes that ‘the path of theological knowledge leads irreversibly from the particular to the general, from the historic to the eschatological and universal.’ (p. 31). What do you think he means by this – how does it change how we might think about Christian hope?
Week 2 - He Crucified God (extracts)
Questions for reflection:
- In the opening section (‘In explanation of the theme’), Moltmann says that ‘to take up the doctrine of the cross today is to go beyond the limits of the doctrine of salvation and to inquire into the revolution needed in the concept of God.’ Roughly speaking, what do you take him to mean by this? What is the ‘revolution’ that is needed?
- In ‘Trinitarian Theology of the Cross’, Moltmann focuses in particular on the meaning of the phrase ‘delivered up’ in the New Testament. He claims that ‘to understand what happened between Jesus and his God and Father on the cross, it is necessary to talk in trinitarian terms.’ Why is this?
- At the end of the selection, Moltmann returns to the significance of the cross for responding to the Holocaust (and vice-versa): ‘God in Auschwitz and Auschwitz in the crucified God – that is the basis for a real hope which both embraces and overcomes the world, and the ground for a love which is stronger than death and which can sustain death.’ In this respect, he is repeating an ancient way of speaking in theology – whereby salvation involves a ‘marvellous exchange’, in which God becomes like humanity so that humanity can become like God. Do you find that Moltmann has shed light on how the cross can be understood as a ‘marvellous exchange’?
Week 3 - The Trinity and the Kingdom (extracts)
Questions for reflection:
- In the first section, Moltmann makes a claim that has enormous implications: that if the relationship between humanity and God is to be conceived as a relationship of covenant and love (as presented throughout Scipture), then it must mean that – in some mysterious sense – God experiences humanity. Then, he writes: ‘The more he [the believer] understands God’s experience, the more deeply the mystery of God’s passion is revealed to him.’ (p. 4). What do you make of this idea? Does this help to develop the idea that God suffers not just for us, but with us, and ‘from us’?
- ‘On the way to the Triune God’, Moltmann contrasts the idea of the Triune God with the idea of God as ‘supreme substance’ and ‘absolute subject’. How have the ideas of substance and subject influenced your own conception of God, do you think?
- In ‘God’s “apathy” or his passion?’, Moltmann includes a long quotation from Origen, which talks about a suffering of love that precedes and motivates the incarnation. What do you make of this idea?
Note that at the time of writing, there is a pdf of the whole book available here: https://www.bethanyipcmm.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Moltmann-J-1993-The-Trinity-and-the-Kingdom-Doctrine-of-God-Fortress.pdf
The extracts that are included in Collected Readings are available as a pdf at the bottom of this page.
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