Emphasis Preaching Journal

Jurgen Moltmann, a prominent theologian at the University of Tubingen, Germany, attracted much attention with his book Theology of Hope. This was a welcome work in a moment when the world was suffering from the great chaos that followed upon the Age of Absurdity. Moltmann helped many to see that the Christian faith developed amid great chaos, but was a message of hope because of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Moltmann followed with another work entitled The Crucified God, in which he moves his theology backward to the cross. His theology of hope has been based on the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now Moltmann concentrates on why the Resurrection faith is possible. It can be possible only because of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Moltmann examines many expressions of Christian theology, faith, and piety, to see how they relate to the cross. In the end, the approach to the theology of the cross must be rooted and grounded in an understanding of the biblical accounts of God's actions with and for his people. For Moltmann, it is the cross that helps us make sense out of anything. That is what the apostle Paul helps us to understand when he writes about the "folly of the cross."