I’m going back to my roots this summer and re-reading the major works of Jurgen Moltmann. His Crucified God had as profound an effect on my own calling as a theologian as any work ever has, and even today, when I depart from Moltmann on much of his theology, I still turn to the Crucified God regularly. I’ve blogged about it here and here.
I’m presently reading his first major work, Theology of Hope, and early in the book this sentence stood out for me:
The theologian is not concerned merely to supply a different interpretation of the world, of history and human nature, but to transform them in expectation of a divine transformation.
This is a good reminder for me, and for anyone doing the work of academic theology: our work must live in the world in a profound way. It must escape the library stacks and the Gothic towers, and be something for the transformation of the world in anticipation of God’s coming kingdom. Good theology is living theology.
Justin DaMetz 