Limping but Blessed: Juergen Moltmann's Search for a Liberating Anthropology (Currents of Encounter 24) (Currentts of Encounter)

For Jürgen Moltmann, theological anthropology must be liberating. It should take a stand against dehumanizing images and concepts of human life and point out ways to "true humanity." In his view, a theologian can develop such a liberating anthropology only if he speaks explicitly from the perspective of God's kingdom as conceived in the Bible and the Christian tradition and if he speaks to and in his context, as one who experiences contemporary sufferings and hopes. But how? This book analyzes the development of Moltmann's theology in the light of this quest for a liberating view on human life. It examines the anthropological concerns in the different stages of his theological enterprise: his post-war Trümmertheologie, the "loose theological threads" of the 1950s, his theology of hope and promise in the 1960s, his theology of the cross, human rights and play in the 1970s and his ecological and "charismatic" theology of the 1980s and 1990s. Moltmann's theological thinking has taken place consciously at the intersection of personal experiences, historical challenges, biblical testimony and the fundamentals of the Christian tradition. Analyzing his quest for a liberating anthropology in a chronological way, this study therefore gives an impression of the frictions and fault lines of Christian anthropology in the context of the societal changes during the second half of the twentieth century. A concluding chapter discusses some of the problems accentuated in the course of this analysis and evaluates some valuable leads for a Christian anthropology today. TON VAN PROOIJEN submitted this study as his doctoral dissertation at the Free University of Amsterdam. His current research interests include anthropology and politics, particularly the concept of humankind in Christian Democratic political thought. Table of Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Abbreviations of Works Cited......Page 14 1. Introduction......Page 16 2.1. One of the Many Who Come Home—and Do not Come Home......Page 24 2.2. Limping but Blessed: Wurzelerfahrungen......Page 31 2.2.1. Two Iron Rings......Page 32 2.2.2. Wrestling with God......Page 34 2.2.3. Hope Against Hope......Page 37 2.3.1. Trümmertheologie and Beyond......Page 39 2.3.2. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Way to True Worldliness......Page 46 2.3.3. The Perseverance of the Saints or the Re-historicization of Theology......Page 53 2.3.4. In the Horizon of Christ's Reign: A Midterm Review......Page 70 2.4. The Revelation of the Hidden God and Hidden Human Beings......Page 78 2.4.1. The Problem of Transcendence......Page 79 2.4.2. Spero Ut Intelligam: Interweaving the Blochian Tapestry......Page 93 2.5.1. Fundamental Perspectives on Human Beings......Page 120 2.5.2. The Apocalypse of the Hidden Human Being? The Problem of Identity......Page 123 2.5.3. Missio and Pro-missio: The Issue of Relevance......Page 127 2.5.4. Anticipatory Questions......Page 128 3.1. The Transcendent Freedom of Two Quarrelling Aunts......Page 134 3.2. True Humanity in the Messianic Intermezzo: A "Critical Theory of God"......Page 142 3.2.1. Facing the Identity-Involvement Dilemma......Page 143 3.2.2. Vicious Circles of Death......Page 148 3.2.3. The Purposelessness of Life: On the Justification of Human Beings......Page 151 3.2.4. Identity in Non-Identity......Page 166 3.2.5. In the Counter-History of the Triune God......Page 169 3.2.6. The Church as "Messianic Intermezzo"......Page 176 3.3. A Christian Perspective on Human Rights? A Case Study......Page 185 3.3.1. The Position Paper......Page 186 3.3.2. The Concluding Paper......Page 192 3.3.3. The Universal and the Particular......Page 199 3.4. Long Marches into Freedom: On Universal and Particular Liberation......Page 201 3.4.1. The Growing Conflict......Page 205 3.4.2. The Open Letter......Page 210 3.4.3. The Exodus of Oppressors? Looking into the Mirrors......Page 218 3.5. Exercises in Critical Anthropology: Evaluation and Preview......Page 228 4.1. The Point of No Return: Flowing Harmony and Faith in History......Page 234 4.2. The End-Times of Modernity: Towards a Revaluation of Values?......Page 243 4.2.1. The Crisis of Modern Messianism......Page 245 4.2.2. Once Again: A Theological Rehabilitation of History......Page 250 4.2.3. Once Again: A Theological Rehabilitation of the World......Page 255 4.2.4. Exodus and Sabbath: A Preview......Page 259 4.3.1. Trinitarian Hermeneutics: How One "Knows" God Once Again......Page 260 4.3.2. Christology After Chernobyl: Cross and Resurrection Once Again......Page 270 4.3.3. The Home of the Trinity: The Revelation of the Inhabitable God......Page 275 4.3.4 Gloria Dei on Earth: Revealing True Humanity......Page 284 4.4. Towards a Habitable Existence: A Divine Therapy......Page 291 4.4.1. The Sabbath-Sunday as Paradigm of Christian Identity......Page 292 4.4.2. Priests and Priestesses in the Community of Creation......Page 301 4.4.3. Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity: Charismatic Fellowship......Page 308 4.5. In the Spacious Place of the Triune God: An Evaluation......Page 322 5.1. In Search for a Liberating Anthropology......Page 328 5.2. A Theological Anthropology in Eight Perspectives......Page 344 5.2.1. The Human Being and the Deus Absconditus......Page 346 5.2.2. The Human Being and the Revelation of the Wholly Other......Page 349 5.2.3. The Human Being in Christological Perspective......Page 351 5.2.4. The Human Being in Pneumatological Perspective......Page 352 5.2.5. The Human Being in Eschatological Perspective......Page 354 5.2.6. The Human Being in Ecological Perspective......Page 357 5.2.7. The Human Being in a Eucharistic Perspective......Page 359 5.2.8. The Human Being in the Perspective of the Apostolate......Page 364 5.3. Re-embedding the Disembedded? Concluding Remarks......Page 369 Bibliography......Page 372 B......Page 386 D......Page 387 F......Page 388 H......Page 389 J......Page 390 M......Page 391 P......Page 392 S......Page 393 Z......Page 394 "For Jurgen Moltmann, theological anthropology must be liberating. It should take a stand against dehumanizing images and concepts of human life and point out ways to "true humanity." In his view, a theologian can develop such a liberating anthropology only if he speaks explicitly from the perspective of God's kingdom as conceived in the Bible and the Christian tradition and if he speaks to and in his context, as one who experiences contemporary sufferings and hopes. But how? This book analyzes the development of Moltmann's theology in the light of this quest for a liberating view on human life. It examines the anthropological concerns in the different stages of his theological enterprise."--BOOK JACKET This study, which describes and analyzes the anthropology of the German theologian Jurgen Moltmann (1926), is the principal result of my participation in a research project on religious anthropology at the Free University of Amsterdam. Ton Van Prooijen. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 357-369) And Index.