This memorial page serves to remember and celebrate the life and works of theologian Jürgen Moltmann (1926–2024).
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A living witness
Leafing through the copy of the "Theology of Hope" that I first read nearly eighteen years ago, I find myself moved by gratitude, re-inspired in my work, and struck by a twinge of that particular pain of, "Oh, right, *that's* why I do this! Why is that so hard to remember?!" So many of my own deepest theological intuitions were formed here. It's no wonder that I've always hoped to produce theology in Moltmann's style: at once learned and lively, in conversation with the major currents of thought and culture but fed by the deep stream of the Spirit of Christ. I only had the chance to interact with Moltmann personally a few times, but I was struck in every case by the coincidence of a generous warmth and a guileless earnestness. Moltmann's theology has no trace of fear about it. I always got the sense that he was willing to be so intellectually adventurous because of a fundamental trust in the grace of God. Somehow the witness of his existential stance as a thinking Christian remained true even when he made (to my mind) missteps in his work as a Christian thinker. "Better to be wrong in Moltmann's way than technically right with a spirit of fear or pride or contention," I've thought to myself more than once. "If I ... understand all mysteries and all knowledge ... but do not have love..." as the Apostle Paul says.
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ABOUT OUR WORKBiography
A brief sketch of Jürgen Moltmann's life, faith, and theology.
Jürgen Moltmann was born in Hamburg, Germany on April 8, 1926. His parents wished to live “the basics” of life, moving from Hamburg to the countryside to live in a rural settlement when he was a child. Moltmann developed a love for the German Romantics at age fifteen, and his love for literature continued as he matured. Although now known to the world as a great theologian, he initially had, in his own words, a “deficient” religious education, only attending church once a year.
At sixteen, Moltmann was drafted into World War II by the German Army. On February 15, 1945, he became a Prisoner of War (POW) after surrendering himself to an English soldier. He was placed in a prison camp in Zedelgem, Belgium, in which prisoners worked and waited, experiencing torment from Hitler Youth Leaders and SS members. In 1945, he was transported to a camp on the Ayrshire coast of Scotland. In order to distance himself from the camp, he volunteered to complete many kinds of work in the area, spending time in cement factories and mines. Soon, he befriended a local family who helped him send and receive letters from his relatives in Hamburg.
Over the course of his career, Moltmann wrote countless seminal works that reinforce his position as one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century.
While in Scotland, Moltmann was given a Bible by an army chaplain. After stumbling upon Psalm 39 one day, he returned to it every evening, finding that the ancient scriptures here voiced the cry of his own heart. He then moved to the Gospel of Mark, where he was moved by Jesus’ cry of dereliction: “My God, why have you forsaken me?” In 1946, he was transferred to an educational camp in Cuckney, England. After diving into literature of all kinds and passing his examinations, he officially became a “student.” Departing from his non-religious upbringing, Moltmann decided to become a pastor. In April of 1948, he returned home and was discharged.
Upon returning to Germany, Moltmann moved to Göttingen for university. He met his future wife, feminist theologian Elisabeth Wendel, during a student trip to Copenhagen. Moltmann joined Elisabeth and became a doctoral student under Otto Weber. He was a “fatherly friend” to both of them. The duo turned in their dissertations, passed their oral exams, and were married on the 17th of March, 1952.
After completing his dissertation, Moltmann acted in many roles. He provided pastoral care in hospitals, taught confirmation classes to children, and preached. While a pastor in a rural congregation in Bremen, he learned the “theology of the people.” Yet, even while offering pastoral care, he was writing and researching. In 1957, after submitting a post-doctoral thesis, Moltmann was given permission to teach. He took a position from the Church Seminary in Wuppertal in 1958 and published Theology of Hope in 1964. After teaching courses at Duke Divinity School and visiting and lecturing at institutions across the United States, Moltmann and his family moved to Eberhard-Karls University of Tübingen, where he became the chair for systematic theology in Protestant theological faculty.
During his nearly three decades at Tübingen, Moltmann lectured widely and engaged with theologians across the world, including (but not limited to) those in the United States, East Asia, and Latin America. He served as the Robert W. Woodruff Distinguished Visiting Professor of Systematic Theology at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology from 1983 to 1994, when he retired from teaching. Alongside his university work, Moltmann was a dedicated servant of the ecumenical movement, including as a member of the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches from 1968 to 1983.
Over the course of his career, Moltmann wrote numerous seminal works that secured his position as one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century, including Theology of Hope (1964), The Crucified God (1972), and The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology (1996). Yet, it is undeniable that Moltmann touched the world with more than his scholarship. He was a mentor to countless students, guiding them through their own works. He also was a father to five children and a husband to Elisabeth Wendel-Moltmann, who passed away in 2016. He is survived by four of his children.
To learn more about Jürgen Moltmann’s life and works, read his autobiography, A Broad Place.
Bibliography
A compilation of selected works from the career of Jürgen Moltmann.
- Lapide, Pinchas, and Moltmann, Jürgen. Jewish Monotheism and Christian Trinitarian
Doctrine: A Dialogue by Pinchas Lapide and Jügen Moltmann. Translated by Leonard
Swidler. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981. - Moltmann, Jürgen. A Broad Place. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis, Fortress, 2009.
- —. The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution of Messianic Ecclesiology.
Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993. - —. The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2004.
- —. Creating a Just Future: the Politics of Peace and the Ethics of Creation. Translated by
John Bowden. London: SCM, 1989. - —. The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian
Theology. Translated by R.A. Wilson and John Bowden. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2015. - —. Ethics of Hope. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012.
- —. Experiences in Theology: Ways and Forms of Christian Theology. Translated by
Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000. - —. Experiences of God. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007.
- —. The Experiment of Hope. Edited and Translated by M. Douglas Meeks. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975.
- —. The Future of Creation: Collected Essays. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis:
Fortress, 2007. - —. God for a Secular Society: The Public Relevance of Theology. Translated by Margaret
Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999. - —. God In Creation: A New Theology of Creation and the Spirit of God. Translated by
Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993. - —. The Gospel of Liberation. Translated by Wayne Pipkin. Waco: Word Books, 1973.
- —. History and the Triune God: Contributions to Trinitarian Theology. Translated by John Bowden. New York: Crossroad, 1992.
- —. Hope and Planning. Translated by Margaret Clarkson. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.
- —. “Hope in a Time of Arrogance and Terror.” In Strike Terror No More: Theology, Ethics, and the New War, edited by Jon L. Berquist, 177–186. St. Louis: Chalice, 2002.
- —. In the End—The Beginning: The Life of Hope. Translated by Margaret Kohl.
Minneapolis: Fortress, 2004. - —. Is There Life After Death? Edited and translated by D. Lyle Dabney. Milwaukee:
Marquette University Press, 1998. - —. On Human Being: Christian Anthropology in Conflicts of the Present. Translated by
John Sturdy. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2009. - —. On Human Dignity: Political Theology and Ethics. Translated by M. Douglas Meeks.
Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007. - —. Jesus Christ for Today’s World. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress,
1994. - —. The Living God and the Fullness of Life. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Louisville,
Westminster John Knox, 2015. - —. The Open Church: Invitation to a Messianic Lifestyle. Translated by M. Douglas Meeks. London: SCM, 1978.
- —. “The Passibility or Impassibility of God: Answers to J. K. Mozley’s ‘Six Necessary
Questions.’” In Within the Love of God: Essays on the Doctrine of God in Honour of
Paul S. Fiddes, edited by Anthony Clarke and Andrew Moore, 108–119. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2014. - —, Nicholas Wolterstorff and Ellen T. Charry. A Passion for God’s Reign: Theology,
Christian Learning, and the Christian Self. Edited by Miroslav Volf. Grand Rapids: W.B.
Eerdmans, 1998. - —. The Passion for Life: A Messianic Lifestyle. Translated by M. Douglas Meeks.
Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007. - —. “Is ‘Pluralistic Theology’ Useful for the Dialogue of World Religions?” In Christian
Uniqueness Reconsidered: The Myth of a Pluralistic Theology of Religions, edited by
Gavin D’Costa, 149–156. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1990. - —. The Politics of Discipleship and Discipleship in Politics: Jürgen Moltmann Lectures in
Dialogue with Mennonite Scholars. Edited by Willard M. Swartley. Eugene: Wipf and
Stock, 2006. - —. The Power of the Powerless. Translated by Margaret Kohl. San Francisco: Harper & Row,
1983. - —. The Source of Life: The Holy Spirit and the Theology of Life. Translated by Margaret
Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997. - —. The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis:
Fortress, 1992. - —. Theology and Joy. Translated by Reinhard Ulrich. London: SCM, 1973.
- —. Theology of Hope: On the Ground and the Implications of a Christian Eschatology.
Translated by James W. Leitch. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993. - —. Theology of Play. Translated by Reinhard Ulrich. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.
- —. Theology Today: Two Contributions Toward Making Theology Present. Translated by
John Bowden. London: SCM, 1998. - —. The Trinity and the Kingdom: The Doctrine of God. Translated by Margaret Kohl.
Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993. - —. Religion, Revolution, and the Future. Translated by M. Douglas Meeks. New York:
Scribner, 1969. - —. Resurrected to Eternal Life: On Dying and Rising. Translated by Ellen Yutzy Glebe.
Minneapolis: Fortress, 2021. - —. Science and Wisdom. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003.
- —. Sun of Righteousness, Arise!: God’s Future for Humanity and the Earth. Translated by
Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis, Fortress, 2010. - —. The Way of Jesus Christ: Christology in Messianic Dimensions. Translated by Margaret
Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993. - —. “Is the World Unfinished? On Interactions Between Science and Theology in the
Concepts of Nature, Time, and the Future.” Theology 144, no. 6 (November 2011):
403–413.
Moltmann, Jürgen and Elisabeth Moltmann Wendel. Passion for God: Theology in Two Voices. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003. - —. God: His and Hers. Translated by John Bowden. New York: Crossroad, 1991.
- Moltmann, Jürgen and Jürgen Weissbach. Humanity in God. New York: Pilgrim Press, 1983.
- —. Two Studies in the Theology of Bonhoeffer. Translated by Reginald H. Fuller and Ilse
Fuller. New York: Scribner, 1967. - Moltmann, Jürgen and M. Douglas Meeks. Hope for the Church: Moltmann in Dialogue with
Practical Theology. Edited and translated by Theodore Runyon. Nashville: Abingdon,
1979.
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