Theology of hope: on the ground and the implications of a Christian eschatology

344 Pages·31.4 MB·English

by  Jürgen Moltmann

JURGEN _
MOLTMANN
THEOLOGY |
=

THEOLOGY OF HOPE

THEOLOGY
OF HOPE
On the Ground and the Implications
of a Christian Eschatology
JURGEN MOLTMANN
..
HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK AND EVANSTON
Translated by James W. Leitch from the German
Theologie der Hoffnung
5th ed., Chr. Kaiser Verlag, Munich, 1965
THEOLOGY OF HOPE. Copyright © 1967 by SCM Press Ltd. Printed in the United
States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For informa-
tion address Harper & Row, Publishers, Incorporated, 49 East 33rd Street, New
York, N.Y. 10016.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 67-21550
A-T
TO MY WIFE

CONTENTS
Preface
II
Abbreviations
13
INTRODUCTION: MEDITATION ON HOPE
What is the ‘Logos’ of Christian Eschatology?
15

>
The Believing Hope
1g
P The Sin of Despair 22
G
Does Hope Cheat Man of the Happiness of the Present? 26

P Hoping and Thinking
82
Q
ESCHATOLOGY AND REVELATION

l
e
p
The Discovery of Eschatology and its Ineffectiveness

om
Promise and Revelation of God
F
HN
Transcendental Eschatology
O
B The Theology of the Transcendental Subjectivity of God
The Theology of the Transcendental Subjectivity of Man

” ‘Progressive Revelation’ and the Eschatology of Salvation
O
O
History
‘History’ as Indirect Self-revelation of God

Y
~
The Eschatology of Revelation

O
o
C
II PROMISE AND HISTORY
Epiphany Religions and Faith in Terms of Promise
95

=
The Word of Promise 102
NH
The Experience of History 106

O Revelation and Knowledge of God 112
P
Promise and Law 120

O Promise in the Eschatology of the Prophets 124
O
S The Historifying of the Cosmos in Apocalyptic Eschatology
133
“
II THE RESURRECTION AND THE
FUTURE OF JESUS CHRIST
1 Gospel and Promise
139
2 The God of the Promise 143
Theology of Hope
Paul and Abraham 148
Fulfilment Ecstasy in Primitive Christianity and the
eschatologia crucis 154
The ‘Death of God’ and the Resurrection of Christ 165
The Historical Question of the Resurrection of Christ
and the Questionableness of the Historical Approach to
172
History
The Approach of Form-Criticism to the Easter Narra-
tives and the Questionableness of its Existentialist Inter-
pretation 182
The Eschatological Question as to the Future Horizon of
the Proclamation of the Risen Lord 190
The Identity of the Lord who Appears as Risen with the
9
Crucified Christ
197
The Future of Jesus Christ 202
Io
The Future of Righteousness 203
II
The Future of Life 208
I2
The Future of the Kingdom of God and of the Freedom
13
of Man 216
14 Summary and Review 224
IV ESCHATOLOGY AND HISTORY
Criticism and Crisis 230
I
THE ‘SoLvED RIDDLE or HIsToRy’:
The Historical Method 238

WN
Historical Heuristics 241

F
Co
Historiology
245
fP
Eschatology of History - Philosophic Millenarianism
261
H
‘Death and Guilt as Driving Forces of the Historical Out-
look 265
The Peculiarity of the Historian’s Universal Concepts 270

n
The Hermeneutics of Christian Mission 272
o
1. The Proofs of God and Hermeneutics 272
2, Mission and Exposition 281
(a) The Hermeneutics of the Apostolate
283
(b) ‘The Humanizing of Man in the Missionary Hope 285
(c) The Historifying of the World in the Christian
Mission
288
(d) The Tradition of the Eschatological Hope
2gI