A Broad Place: An Autobiography

by Jürgen Moltmann

Jürgen Moltmann has marked the history of theology after the Second World War in Europe and North America like no other. He is the most widely read, quoted, and translated theologian of our time. Now, after Moltmann has celebrated his eightieth birthday, he looks back on a life engaged in forging a Christian response to the tumult and opportunities of our time.

In this autobiography Moltmann tells his life story, from his Hamburg youth in an "alternative" parental home to the incomplete completion of the present moment, and he reflects on the journey of his own theological development and creativity. A wide-ranging document alert to the deeper currents of his time and ours, Moltmann?s work is at the same time an entertaining reconsideration of a life full of intense experience and new beginnings.

This autobiography will be widely read in the churches and the academy and will shed light on the intellectual development of this enormously influential theologian. Includes previously unpublished black and white photos.

Genres: Theology, Biography

406 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Jürgen Moltmann is a German Reformed theologian. He is the 2000 recipient of the Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

Moltmann's Theology of Hope is a theological perspective with an eschatological foundation and focuses on the hope that the resurrection brings. Through faith we are bound to Christ, and as such have the hope of the resurrected Christ ("Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3, NIV)), and knowledge of his return. For Moltmann, the hope of the Christian faith is hope in the resurrection of Christ crucified. Hope and faith depend on each other to remain true and substantial; and only with both may one find "not only a consolation in suffering, but also the protest of the divine promise against suffering."

However, because of this hope we hold, we may never exist harmoniously in a society such as ours which is based on sin. When following the Theology of Hope, a Christian should find hope in the future but also experience much discontentment with the way the world is now, corrupt and full of sin. Sin bases itself in hopelessness, which can take on two forms: presumption and despair. "Presumption is a premature, selfwilled anticipation of the fulfillment of what we hope for from God. Despair is the premature, arbitrary anticipation of the non-fulfillment of what we hope for from God."

In Moltmann's opinion, all should be seen from an eschatological perspective, looking toward the days when Christ will make all things new. "A proper theology would therefore have to be constructed in the light of its future goal. Eschatology should not be its end, but its beginning." This does not, as many fear, 'remove happiness from the present' by focusing all ones attention toward the hope for Christ's return. Moltmann addresses this concern as such: "Does this hope cheat man of the happiness of the present? How could it do so! For it is itself the happiness of the present." The importance of the current times is necessary for the Theology of Hope because it brings the future events to the here and now. This theological perspective of eschatology makes the hope of the future, the hope of today.

Hope strengthens faith and aids a believer into living a life of love, and directing them toward a new creation of all things. It creates in a believer a "passion for the possible" "For our knowledge and comprehension of reality, and our reflections on it, that means at least this: that in the medium of hope our theological concepts become not judgments which nail reality down to what it is, but anticipations which show reality its prospects and its future possibilities." This passion is one that is centered around the hope of the resurrected and the returning Christ, creating a change within a believer and drives the change that a believer seeks make on the world.

For Moltmann, creation and eschatology depend on one another. There exists an ongoing process of creation, continuing creation, alongside creation ex nihilo and the consummation of creation. The consummation of creation will consist of the eschatological transformation of this creation into the new creation. The apocalypse will include the purging of sin from our finite world so that a transformed humanity can participate in the new creation.

Reviews

[David Glick]

Moltmann had a very interesting life and theological career, and you'd hardly know it from his autobiography. Lazy writing: "I went here, I did this, I gave this lecture and then travelled back." I wished he would pull back the curtain for the reader, that he would show us how he reflected on the events of his life. Instead, we get the events.

[Nickolas Hartman]

The life of Jurgen Moltmann was a fascinating one. To learn how he developed his unorthodox theology is so interesting. His heart was never to drift but he just couldn’t reconcile some important things about our Triune God and so he did. This autobiography tracks the growth and change of Moltmann overtime.

[Stephen Morrison]

Profoundly moving

[Ian Carmichael]

A great insight into one our ages most influential theologians. As I read this, Moltmann connected the writing of his various works to his own life and society concerns in such a way to deepen my interest in what he has to say (and think!)
Also of interest to me was the variety of sketches of other major theologians - Bultmann, Kasemann, Kung, Barth, &c.
Fully recommend its reading. (I'm pondering setting it as companion reading for the introductory theology course which I teach.

[Benjamin Merritt]

Informative and compelling. Sets Moltmann's influential theological works in context.

Not for everyone. The abundance of names and places made wading through certain parts difficult. But overall an enjoyable read.

[Steve Irby]

I just finished "A Broad Place," Moltmann's autobiography.

What can I say? It's a view of the man and such a view shows how the theology is formed. WW2 was obviously very formative for him (especially Auschwitz: read "The Crucified God"). Other than that his chapter on the year he spent at Duke (67-68) was locally intriguing.

[Adrian Gray]

Some fascinating sections but rather too many lists of people and seminars get in the way of the personal journey.

[Kyle]

It is hard to imagine this book appealing to more than the most devoted Moltmann readers. I can think of no compelling reason to begin your Moltmann reading with this book. No, this book is for those familiar with Moltmann's works.

As one of those devoted to Moltmann, I found the book to be hit or miss. Far too often it strayed into a "then I went here and met so and so, then I went there and met so and so." For a nearly 400 page book, it grew tedious. In between those framing events is a rich work of biography as theology and theology as biography. The curious are able to piece together formative moments and events in Moltmann's life and erect a psychological framework to his theological works. Beyond that the book resonated with pastoral insight. Even in his most academic, Moltmann pulses with a pastor's heart. The concerns of men and women on the ground never slip from Moltmann's view. This is especially true the older Moltmann grew. As a late period piece, it's positively radiating with pastoral insight.