A Book Review
By Darold H. Morgan
[Dr. Darold Morgan is the retired President of the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and prior to that was Pastor of the Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.]
How I Have Changed "Reflections on Thirty Years of Theology"
Edited by Jurgen Moltmann
Trinity Press International
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1997
To say this is a fascinating book is a distinct understatement. It is almost one of a kind. Coming out of the debacle of World War II is a generation of exceptionally brilliant men and women who turned to Christian theology almost as a last hope from the nihilism and atheistic existentialism of that era. Most of these individuals are German or Swiss. Protestants and Catholics both are represented.
This volume consists of the addresses and biographical insights from these people invited by one of the world`s foremost theologians, Jurgen Moltmann. The symposium, marking his seventieth birthday in 1996, bears down on the fact that this group of influential writers are in the same aged group. This sadly may mean that they are nearing the end of their remarkable productivity. The invitation had gone out under the theme, "How I have changed" in these decades since the war years. The last half of the twentieth century have been marked by some of these most momentous events in all of history-the destruction of Nazism, the fall of communism, the revelations of the death camps, especially Auschwitz. Alongside these monumental historical facts has been a unique renaissance of theological and philosophical teachings in Germany, of all places!
One of the most interesting dimensions of the book comes from the biographical insights the speakers were asked to give about themselves. A surprising majority came from non-religious homes. Some came from ultra-conservative backgrounds. Some knew the bitter struggles in a postwar, divided Germany. Many knew first hand the horrors of war and imprisonment. Tragedy, suffering, privation, the sad revelations of Germanic racism as the evidence from the death camps mounted–all combined to produce a surprising generation of theologians who found a challenging outlet in this field of theological study. One cannot understand this particular group apart from their background and heritage.
It is strange how Germany has produced. in a century and a half not only military and political violence of unprecedented proportions, but also a series of seismic theological waves which have been worldwide in their influence. There was the outpouring of rationalism in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The neo-orthodoxy of Barth, Bultmann, Tillich, and other figures prominently in the education of this group. Repetitiously, these theologians tell of their pilgrimage beyond this influential group of teachers. The third wave is represented in this small volume as writers who have produced the famed concept of "The Theology of Hope", Catholic thinkers, particularly Hans Kung, who challenged the infallibility of the papal office, women who are in the forefront of a feminist theology, and the traditionalists who are anything but reluctant to defend their position. There simply is not a dull page in this book!
Ethical issues abound ,in this volume. Originally begun as a tribute to Moltmann, these ethical issues are rooted in the biographical notes about these lives as well as in their deeply held views. Racism, abortion, euthanasia, poverty, economic justice, political theology, the role of women, genocide, the structural crises of the churches all come into a share of the discussion. Much of this comes in the repeated references of a political theology. The enduring influence of the Confession in Church in Germany where Martin Niemueller figured prominently during the Hitler years, the writings of Diedrich Bonhoeffer, the teaching and writing skills of people like Barth, Radner, Kasemann, Fuchs, Jungel, and others are found on nearly every page. Norbert Greinacher says it well: "I recognized that one cannot preach about freedom, equality, brotherhood and sisterhood, justice and subsidiary from the pulpit on Sunday without working on Monday for more justice in our political society" (p. 47).
There are frequent reminders of the impact that teachers had on this generation of theologians. Nearly every speaker refers to one whose influence is still intact, despite the peculiar silence of the church during the apogee of Nazism. How this came about is another beautiful reminder of how the truth of God will break out.
Two women are represented in this symposium, Dorothy Solle and Margaret Moltmann-Wendel. Solle particularly comes across as a strident feminist, with both indicating that the plethora of American feminists have influenced them. Solle has a most interesting debate on the omnipotence of God as a refuge for male-chauvinism. When one adds to that the debt they seem to owe to liberation theology, concepts stemming from the vast injustices perpetrated against the poor and downtrodden in Latin America, one quickly understands why the issues of peace and ecology in the world are characteristic of their positions. Solle, however, strikes a solid note in her appeal for a return to Christian mysticism as an essential step in the recovery of priorities.
Jorg Zink confirms this in his statement: "Unless Christianity rediscovers its mystical background, then it no longer has anything to say to us. We could also discover the social and political energy which has always stemmed from mysticism." (p. 62)
There is much in this remarkable book which leaves the mainline Christian somewhat perplexed. The inerrantist will read a few pages and then close it with vicious snap because the overall hermeneutics are far from a typical biblical position. Nevertheless it is obvious that a remarkable group of people who have come from the blood-soaked regions of Europe have discovered for themselves a vibrant Christian faith. Out of that center comes their repeated call for social justice, sensitivity to the poor and neglected in the world, an awareness of the ever present pitfalls of racism, and a prophetic call to reject the abuse of women. The parameters of our Christian faith are vastly expanded when we even barely touch the composite of these writers.
Students of theology and Christian ethics ought to be fully aware of the extraordinary influence of these Germanic teachers from central Europe. We may disagree (and we do) with many of their strongly-held views (and no group holds them more tenaciously than does a German mind); but we urgently need to be knowledgeable about their conclusions. Read and study them, and then out of your own biblical orientation, select or reject what relates to that view which your own study and experience judges to be valid. One will not disagree with Moltmann whose writings about "The Crucified God" touches us all when he says: "When I wrote that book-and I wrote it with my lifeblood-once again I saw the whole of theology in a focal point. For me the cross of Christ became the foundation and critique of Christian theology" (p. 18).
