Foreword to The Testament of Jesus, A Study of the Gospel of John in the Light of Chapter 17 (original) (raw)
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"John 17—The Original Intention of Jesus for the Church"
This essay is a Foreword by Paul N. Anderson to Ernst Käsemann's The Testament of Jesus, translated by Gerhard Krodel, The Johannine Monograph Series, Vol. 6 (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2017) xi-xxxviii. It considers the life story of Ernst Käsemann, including his resistance to Nazi Germany and liberal theology, while at the same time analyzing critically his controversial claims in this book and the ensuing discussions among New Testament scholars over the next half century--with important implications for church leadership and Christian discipleship. Uncorrected proofs, here.
2017
7.4.4 The Fourfold Christic Kenosis in the Christian Life 7.5 Conclusion: The Kenotic Body of Christ and the Transformed World Bibliography However, if one examines the topical range of major secondary works on Moltmann's thought, one thing emerges quite strikingly: no work in English is dedicated centrally to expounding or interacting with his christology. True, many studies touch on his christology in some fashion, but none offer more than a few scattered sections, or perhaps one committed chapter, to the aspect of Moltmann's christology deemed most pertinent to whatever other locus is under investigation. Any full-scale, detailed analysis that attempts to sum the varied contours and themes of Moltmann's christological system is conspicuously absent in contemporary engagement with his thought. 9 The prominence of this lacuna is exacerbated not only by the fact that the longest writings in both his original trilogy and his six-volume "Contributions to Systematic Theology" are, in fact, devoted to christology, 10 but also by the fact that Moltmann, throughout his career, has unflinchingly asserted that his theology is christological in foundation and implication, a fact that is not always recognized by those who comment on his thought. 11 Moreover, the uniquely kenotic trajectory of Moltmann's christology has received, at best, scant attention from a small handful of commentators. This neglect has typically
THE DEVELOPMENT AND INFLUENCE OF MOLTMANN S THEOLOGY
It has become de rigeur in writing about a theologian's work to provide not only a theological context for his or her work, but also to begin with some sort of sociopoliti-cal framework which sheds light on the situation and milieu within which the theologian works. In the case of Jurgen Moltmann, such a sociopolitical prolegomena is absolutely necessary for two reasons: first Moltmann's work is intimately tied in with the social and political upheaval in post-World War II German culture; second, Moltmann' s theology is deliberately and decidedly political in character, demanding that one always look to the political sources and results of his theology. This introductory essay will provide a framework, both sociopolitical and theological, for understanding the various twists and turns that Moltmann' s theology has taken over the last thirty years. It will hopefully provide guideposts for understanding the subsequent articles in the volume which deal with specific aspects of Moltmann' s thought Moltrnann is a member of the first post World War II generation of Protestant theologians in Germany. The challenges that this generation faced were manifold. In the first place, all institutions, political, religious, social, and economic, were either destroyed or severely damaged either by Nazi totalitarianism or by the war itself. Because the churches still maintained some structural integrity, it fell to them to help provide the most basic of human services to the German people: food was distributed , shelter provided, and the rebuilding of the physical infrastructure of the country was begun. A more knotty problem remained, however: what was to be made of the atrocities caused by the Nazi regime over the previous decade, and what direction was the New Germany to take. There was the sense that the latter could not proceed without coming to grips with the former.
Walter Bauer's Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum
Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2006
Reviewed by waltheR völKeR Translated from German by Thomas P. Scheck the following early review of walter bauer's book, Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum (1934), was by one of the most prominent Protestant patristic scholars of the era. walter völker was himself the author of important and still valuable studies on Philo, Gnosticism, Clement of alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, dionysius areopagita, and Maximus the Confessor. the significance of völker's devastating critique of walter bauer's thesis and historical method is that it stemmed from a scholar whose stature in the field of patristic studies was not negligible and whose expertise was precisely focused on the material and time period covered in bauer's work. Moreover, as a fellow German Protestant, völker could hardly be suspected of "Roman" sympathies. it is certainly interesting to observe that the highest praise for bauer's thesis has come from New testament scholars, such as bultmann and Koester; yet bauer's work does not deal with the New testament, but with second and third century Christianity. walter bauer, Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum, beiträge zur historischen theologie, band 10 (tübingen: J.C.b. Mohr [Paul Siebeck] 1934), viii + pp. 247. the author endeavors to determine a new understanding of the relationship between orthodoxy and heresy. he wants to refute the old view that is represented in both Catholic and Protestant circles according to which heresy always occupies a mere secondary position, as a deviation from
Ernst Käsemann and the Specter of Apocalyptic
Theology Today, 2018
Ernst Käsemann famously claimed that ''apocalyptic was the mother of all Christian theology.'' This claim is more than a merely historical remark about the origins of Christian theology. Käsemann's work pointedly raises the question, What theological difference does it make to reclaim apocalyptic, not only as the historical-theological seedbed in which Christian theology was born, but also as the ''mother'' to which Christian theology today must return? I contend that Käsemann's retrieval of apocalyp-tic provides an important corrective-or, more strongly put, a disruption-of what one might call the ''ecclesial turn'' in contemporary Protestant theology. In this article, the contemporary relevance of Käsemann's distinctive theological voice is highlighted. I propose that the time is ripe for a Christian theology ''with an apocalyptic sting.''