Author: Anders S. K. TANG, Christian Thought (Theology and Culture) Professor, Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary.
Abstract:
This paper aims to identify the similarity between Jürgen Moltmann (1926- ) and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) by focusing on their understandings of the theology of the Cross in The Crucified God and Letters and Papers from Prison respectively. By reading of the two works side by side, this study seeks to clarify in what sense Moltmann employs Bonhoeffer’s theology of the Cross and in what sense he goes beyond Bonhoeffer. Other related writings are used when it is necessary. Moltmann consistently emphasizes Jesus Christ on the cross as the God for others. This viewpoint, the paper submits, is significantly influenced by Bonhoeffer’s the theology of the Cross for others. However, Moltmann’s theology of the Cross is Trinitarian and eschatological while Bonhoeffer’s is incarnational. It follows that Moltmann’s understanding of human being and church community will not merely be a kind of “suffering for others” but also “for others in the eschatological hope.”
Keywords:
theology of the Cross, Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God, Letters and Papers from Prison
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