Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Holy Week with Moltmann

Every theology which claims to be Christian must come to terms with Jesus’ cry on the cross. Basically, every Christian theology is consciously or unconsciously answering the question, ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’, when their doctrines of salvation say ‘for this reason’ or ‘for that reason’. In the face of Jesus’ death-cry to God, theology either becomes impossible or becomes possible only as specifically Christian theology. … By the standards of the cry of the dying Jesus for God, theological systems collapse at once in their inadequacy. How can Christian theology speak of God at all in the face of Jesus’ abandonment by God? How can Christian theology not speak of God in the face of the cry of Jesus for God on the cross? (Jurgen Moltmann in The Crucified God. Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1993, p. 153)

2 comments:

TheraP said...

I left a comment at the end of your thread on "scholarship: objectivity or passion?"

Perhaps you may find it helpful.

Martin Cooke said...

Hi (me again ;-) I read Luke 23:46 as saying that Jesus' death-cry was like saying "do please hurry up and collect me from school," a prayer that was almost immediately answered; is that a terrible interpretation, I was wondering? (I'm more unsure of that interpretation now, as I do like Moltmann's idea of systems collapsing before that cry :-)