Christianity has at its center a pivotal moment in history upon with all of its theology and practice hinges. To undertake a Christology is to consider what it is in God's nature and character that would necessitate and facilitate the cross. While classical theology has often disdained any idea of a God who has feelings and emotions, Jürgen Moltmann rejects this by showing that God suffers empathically and experiences humiliation alongside humanity in the person of Jesus. This paper will set out to investigate Moltmann's concept of a God who suffers, particularly in contrast to the classical notion of the impassibility of God. It will then explore how his claim might influence theology and worship. Finally, it will briefly consider how Moltmann's theology of the cross may find application in a Wesleyan ecology of faith.
“The death of Jesus on the cross is the centre of all Christian theology.”1 If Karl Barth is Christocentric in his approach in Church Dogmatics, then Moltmann is thoroughly cross-centered in his Crucified God. He makes it clear that all aspects of theology—creation, God, sin and death, faith and sanctification, future and hope—all find their basis in the cross of Christ. The cross is not the only theme, but is “the entry to its problems and answers on earth.”2 It is through the cross that we learn the nature and character of God, especially as revealed in Trinity terms.
In his evaluation of the cross-event, from the humiliation, beating, suffering, abandonment and forsakeness to the pain and agony of his slow death, Moltmann rejects the classical position that God is apathetic and without emotion or feeling; he proposes that God is deeply moved as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is more than a legal trans...
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...r to resurrect Him. Through the cross, God has broken into the fallen world and revealed Himself more completely than ever. Moltmann brings the loving nature of God into full view as one who would go to the greatest lengths ever—the sacrifice of a Son—in order to rescue humanity. And Jesus retained the fullness of his divinity while plunging headlong into suffering and death on the world's behalf. There is now no place where God has not been.
Works Cited
Dunning, H. Ray. Grace, Faith, and Holiness: a Wesleyan Systematic Theology. Kansas City, Mo.: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1988.
Moltmann, Jürgen. The Crucified God: the Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology. 1st Fortress Press ed. Minneapolis: FORTRESS PRESS, 1993.
Oden, Thomas C. The Word of Life (Systematic Theolgy. Vol. 2). Peabody, Mass.: Prince Press, 2001.
The medieval theologian Julian of Norwich was a mystic, writer, anchoress and spiritual director for her time. She is gaining in popularity for our time as she provides a spiritual template for contemplative prayer and practice in her compilation of writings found in Revelations of Divine Love. The insightful meditations provide the backdrop and basis for her Trinitarian theology’s embrace of God’s Motherhood found in the Trinity. Her representative approach of the all-encompassing unconditional love of a mother who nurtures, depicts Christ as our Mother ascending to the placement of Second hood within the Trinity while giving voice to the duality of God.
There are several aspects to consider when exploring the Christian worldview. There are many facets or denominations and they each have their own distinct beliefs and practices, but they all share the same fundamental beliefs. In this Paper we will explore the character of God, His creation, humanity and its nature, Jesus’ significance to the world, and the restoration of humanity, as well as my beliefs and the way that I interact with Christianity and my personal worldview.
By embedding tragedies such as the corruption of J.B’s family, modernizing the true disposition of the Three Comforters, and renewing J.B’s ending along with his own aspect from the biblical story of Job, Archibald MacLeish has answered the question asked by the innocent, “Why do the righteous suffer?” After all, J.B becomes a stronger person than ever, because he overcomes his own obstacles and fear. The innocent has to suffer from the punishments from God in order to gain new experiences and to be more independent. Everyone has to suffer in order to be a better a person.
More broadly, it is possible to see the opposition between "guilt" and "shame" as representative of a larger tension in early modern thought between Christian and p...
Moehlman, Conrad Henry. How Jesus Became God; an Historical Study of the Life of Jesus to the Age of Constantine. New York: Philosophical Library, 1960. Print.
The stories which humans tell about their origins are always cherished and held in high regard. In fact, no culture has existed which has not created or attempted to create some story of origins. Every culture has had some means in which to say this is where we came from. Especially in cultures where religion found itself prevalent, the mythology of origins became not only a status or anthropology but also a theology. In which case, we find that Christianity is not alone in this struggle, though our struggle may be unique in kind. For our case, we find that the foundation of theology, specifically practical theology, finds its basis in our story of creation and origination. “One of the central affirmations of the Christian faith is the claim that human beings are created in the image of God.” Because the creation story, as cited above, claims that humanity was made in the image or likeness of God, and we affirm that the Bible is the witness to Christ, who being in human form was also made in the image of God, then it is logical to conclude that the theology of human nature rests on this imago dei and therefore the discussion of Karl Barth’s relational view of imago is critical to dissect in order for a reasonable theology to be constructed.
One of the main principles of Christianity is the belief in both the divinity and humanity of Jesus, that these two natures are combined harmoniously in one being. In general, all modern Christians believe that Jesus was human, he was considered to be “The Word was made flesh” (John, I: 14). However, Jesus was more than just a human, despite being subjected to pain, suffering and death like all other human beings, he was sinless and also possessed the power to heal and to defy death in order to ascend, both body and spirit, into heaven. He was all man and all God, a combination of these two elements, remaining distinct but united in one being. The deity of Jesus is a non-negotiable belief in Christianity, which is referred to in many parts of scripture, “God was revealed in the flesh” (I Timothy, 3:16). The Christian faith does not perceive Jesus as God but rather a reincarnation of God, a mysterious deity who is the second person of the Holy Trinity. Throughout history, controversy has surrounded the issue of the humanity and divinity of Jesus, leading to the formation of Docetism, the belief that Jesus was fully divine but not fully human, Arianism, that Jesus was superior to all of creation, but less divine than God, and Nestorius, that there were two separate persons within Jesus. This the proportion of the divine and human within Je...
"EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 & 2." EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
The four fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Human beings exist in a relation to a triune God, God’s presence in the world is mediated through nature and reality, faith and reason are compatible, the dignity of the human being is inviolable and therefore the commitment to justice for the common good is necessary. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition show that they represent these fundamental claims in a broad distinctive way. This essay will show that these readings better represent one of the fundamental claims, human beings exist in a relation with a triune God, from the view point of three great books from the bible, Genesis, Exodus and the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible clearly supports the
...s distributed in Theology 101 at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle on 22 April 2008.
This essay would be debated in the view of the Theology of Christianity. The theology of Christianity would be that there was and is a man that Jesus that came to Earth on behalf of his father name God to save sinners of their sins, and have a chance of eternal living in Heaven. The theology of Christianity is to believe in the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit and the jobs that they hold eventually and as an whole. This debate of an essay will include the following Tillich and his views on Process Theology, Bonhoeffer and his views on Secular Theology of the nature of God, the validation of Process Theology of the nature of God, and lastly the non-validation of Secular theology's view on the nature of God.Tillich views on Process Theology
Hall, Gerald. "Jesus' Crucifixon and Death." Academics' Web Pages. School of Theology at McAuley Campus. Web. 26 Feb. 2012.
The Late Middle Ages saw great theological discrepancies through the progression of Christian mysticism. The exploration into spiritual practices and the unification of the soul during this period led to great philosophical works. The Cloud of Unknowing and The Imitation of Christ are two noteworthy texts that discuss one’s aspiration to attain union with God. The Cloud of Unknowing is an anonymously authored spiritual exercise that accentuates movement toward the contemplative life by acknowledging what is unknown by man. In contrast, The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis is a spiritual guide which emphasizes that the way to be fully Christian is to live in the imitation of Jesus Christ. While many of the thoughts concerning human reason and withdrawal from the corporal world are similar in the texts, the two are inherently different as the account in The Imitation of Christ is more compelling due to its focus on a humanistic objective while acquiring union and salvation with God.
This paper will expose what controversies he was involved in throughout his theological career; why and how he is considered to be a key figure in the development of Christianity; and what insights
Westphal, M. (2009). Whose Community? Which Interpretation?: Philosophical Hermeneutics for the Church. Baker Academic. 107