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Moltmann's Theology of Hope Revisited1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

Richard Bauckham
Richard Bauckham
Affiliation:
Department of Theological Studies, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL
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Extract

Jürgen Moltmann's first major work, Theology of Hope, first published in 1964, is arguably one of the truly great theological works of the last few decades, and indisputably one of the most influential. Though Moltmann's own theology has developed considerably in many subsequent works since Theology of Hope, it remains one of his greatest achievements, rivalled only by his second major work, The Crucified God. These two books, which constitute the core of Moltmann's early theology, have, it seems to me, a concentrated power of argument, focused on their central integrating ideas, which is lacking in the more diffuse structure and argument of the later works, significant though these are in their own way. The two early books also have a certain polemical extremeness, which, by contrast with the more balanced and rounded quality of the later works, gives them the sort of impact which one also finds in the passionate extremism of the early Luther or the dialectical rhetoric of the early Barth. The comparison is appropriate, not only because the influence of these two predecessors on Moltmann's work is very evident, but also because, in adopting something of their dialectical and prophetic style of theology, Moltmann had a parallel purpose: that of redirecting theological work. If, having accomplished this, Moltmann has subsequently become more and more like the older Barth of the Church Dogmatics, this is understandable and brings both advantages and disadvantages with it.

Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , May 1989 , pp. 199 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1989

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References

2 English translation: London: SCM Press, 1965.

3 Moltmann: Messianic Theology in the Making (Basingstoke: Marshall Pickering, 1987), chapter 2.Google Scholar

4 See, for example, Perkins, P., Resurrection: New Testament Witness and Contemporary Reflection (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1984)Google Scholar; Carnley, P., The Structure of Resurrection Belief (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987)Google Scholar; O'Collins, G., Jesus Risen (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1987)Google Scholar. It is remarkable that neither Perkins nor Carnley makes more than passing reference to Moltmann.

5 Theology of Hope, p. 165.

6 Moltmann, J., Experiences of God (London: SCM Press, 1980), pp. 131–132Google Scholar; cf. Theology of Hope, p. 21.

7 Experiences of God, p. 33.

8 Theology of Hope, p. 30.

9 Moltmann, J., Religion, Revolution, and the Future (New York: Charles Scribner's, 1969), p. 136.Google Scholar

10 Theology of Hope, p. 22.

11 Theology of Hope, pp. 33–34; Religion, Revolution, and the Future, p. 120.

12 By contrast, O'Collins does pay attention to Moltmann (Jesus Risen, pp. 67–76) and therefore gives hope a place in his epistemology of resurrection faith (pp. 131–132, 134).

13 In Herzog, F. ed., The Future of Hope: Theology as Eschatotogy (New York: Herder & Herder, 1970), p. 163.Google Scholar

14 Cf. the sharp criticism by Hodgson, P. C., Jesus — Word and Presence (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971), pp. 240–241.Google Scholar

15 Religion, Revolution, and the Future, p. 200.

16 English translation: Oxford: Blackwell, 1986.

17 The Principle of Hope, p. 210.

18 Moltmann, J., The Experiment Hope (London: SCM Press, 1975), pp. 34–35.Google Scholar