Today’s world is marked by deep and widespread conflicts, including wars, political polarization, democratic crises, and the resurgence of authoritarian forms of power. These realities raise urgent questions for public theology and for Christian witness in the public sphere. In memory of Jürgen Moltmann and in dialogue with his work, this seminar reflects on the significance of Jesus Christ amid contemporary conflicts. Moltmann’s theology consistently related Christology to hope and political responsibility. The crucified and risen Christ reveals God’s solidarity with suffering and opens a horizon of hope for justice and reconciliation in history. The seminar will explore how the question “Who is Jesus Christ for us today?” can be addressed in contexts of political crisis and social conflict. Participants will consider how Christ’s life, preaching, and testimony challenge forms of domination while opening possibilities for reconciliation, justice, and hope.

The seminar will examine excerpts from Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese theologians and humanities scholars who have written about Jürgen Moltmann’s theology. We will discuss these perspectives alongside Moltmann’s own responses, his writings on the public relevance of theology today—especially Gott im Projekt der modernen Welt—and his reflections on a Chinese tradition, Laozi’s Daode Jing.What do these continuing conversations teach us about the relevance of theological texts in secular, secularizing, and post-secular societies, including those shaped by Chinese cultures? What can we learn from the cross-cultural theological dialogue that Moltmann promoted and modeled? Bringing these two questions together highlights the timeliness of reflecting on how theology can engage plural, changing public spheres—both global and specifically Chinese—by showing how cross-cultural exchange renews theological relevance and public responsibility today.

Jürgen Moltmann’s pioneering work in ecological theology was a crucial aspect of his overall theological engagement with contemporary issues, even when ecological issues were only just beginning to be addressed by theologians in the 1980s. His cosmic Christology remains particularly apt and relevant for today’s world that is now facing escalating and intertwined global ecological and social challenges. His explicit interpretation of Christology as the cosmic Christ is particularly important, not just because of its engagement with a theology of creation and with evolutionary ideas, but also because he points to the renewal of a community of creation in Christ in a way that brings hope rather than despair even amidst suffering and death. This seminar will (1) explore key aspects of Moltmann’s argument on the cosmic Christ, particularly  in his seminal work The Way of Jesus Christ (1990) , (2) interrogate key resources that he uses in order to develop his argument, particularly that of Jesuit thinkers Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Karl Rahner, and (3) offer a critical appreciation of how the different facets of his approach have since been developed by other scholars.