by Jürgen Moltmann
WJK, Louisville. 232 pages
Jürgen Moltmann is perhaps the most well known of contemporary theologians — and for good reason. His early works influenced several generations of theologians and pastors, particularly “Theology of Hope,” “The Crucified God” and “The Trinity and the Kingdom.” His thinking about a new way of theologically understanding the environment in his book “God and Creation” still provides a solid theological foundation. Later, he moved into a deeper exploration of the Holy Spirit in “The Spirit of Life.” Few contemporary theologians have been as prolific as Moltmann, and there are many who criticize him for just that fact. (He is not the only theologian subject to this criticism.)
One thing that distinguishes Moltmann is his ecumenical spirit and another is his faith in the living God. These qualities come through in this book. Now in his ninth decade, he has written this brief summation of his theological reflections on life that he began in “The Spirit of Life.” He counters the current reductionism of modern life with the wide space of God’s life. “My aim is to show how human life flourishes from development of life in joy of God, in the love of God, in the broad space of God’s freedom, in the spirituality of the senses, and in the productive imaginative power of thinking that crosses frontiers.” Quoting Gregory of Nyssa, Moltmann writes, “Only astonishment can grasp anything.” That can be said of Moltmann, too.
