Resurrected to Eternal Life: On Dying and Rising

by Jürgen Moltmann, Ellen Yutzy Glebe (Translation)

In this deeply personal and daring meditation, eminent theologian Jürgen Moltmann challenges many closely held beliefs about the experience of dying, the nature of death, and the hope of eternal life. Moving deftly between biblical, theological, and existential domains, Moltmann argues that while we know intimately the experience of dying--both our loved ones' dying and, ultimately, our own--death itself is a mystery. Are those who have died in fact dead? If the dead are alive, how or in what respect? When the dead awaken to eternal life, who wakes? Moltmann's interrogations yield surprising and beautiful fruits. The living soul that awakens to eternal life is not a ghost in a machine, but the Lebensgestalt, the shape and story of a life, its human and divine contexts, its "whole." Drawing on themes from his oeuvre's entire arc, Resurrected to Eternal Life testifies to the inner unity of Moltmann's the cross, the Spirit, the kingdom, the end, and the hope that makes the end present here and now. Seasoned readers of Moltmann will find in these pages a capstone of a lifetime of theological exploration, while those new to his complex thought will find a concise and elegant entry point into his voluminous work.

Genres: Theology

88 pages, Hardcover

Published April 13, 2021

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

[Josh Issa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moltmann presents a short meditation on the nature of dying, death, the soul, and resurrection. Filled with memorable sentences and some profound thoughts, while referencing hymns every other page. He points out that we never experience our own death, only our dying. It is the death of others that we experience, and the death of those we love that impacts us. It is then not a struggle of life over death that concerns us then, but love over death - can our love overcome the pain of death?

I kept feeling throughout though that there was a lot of noise in the book and a bit disjointed. I also did not appreciate the distancing from resurrection of the flesh to the resurrection of life (by which he means our own consciousness). It seems that while Moltmann is willing to affirm a post-death state of awareness and is not a proponent of a metaphorical resurrection, I can’t see why he doesn’t affirm a resurrection of the flesh itself. I imagine it’s because despite all his talk of the resurrection entering into the eternality of God that he considers it to be temporal experience (as evidence by how he quotes Jesus to the thief on the cross) and doesn’t want any changes in our state of being.

We always associate dying with death, but perhaps it is better to associate death with being woken to everlasting live-liness. When a child is born, we do not lament its departure from the haven of the mother's body, to which it has become accustomed and in which it feels at home, but rather we greet its awakening in a new world that fosters it and demands it become more independent.

[Erik Bonkovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty philosophical and heady. One of those books where you’re always saying to yourself, “Yeah, this guy’s a lot smarter than I am.”

[Benjamin Merritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just days after his 95th birthday, Moltmann has released a new book of meditations about death, resurrection, and eternal life. It is a deeply personal book that he wrote in reflection after the death of his wife Elisabeth. This is a very accessible text for anyone struggling with grief or wrestling with questions about the topic. For those more familiar with Moltmann, you will find areas where he clarifies or even changes his position here compared to previous books (having read 20+ Moltmann books I did not expect to find anything new here... I was pleasantly surprised!). Anyone can benefit from reading this beautiful little book. Highly recommended!

[David Hindman · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a Christian theologian in his 90s writes about death and resurrection, you have an added incentive to read what he has to say. As usual Moltmann is not disappointing.

[Roy Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is a theologian is well known for his profound reflections on the resurrection and its meaning all creation. No other theologian of his generation has influenced more pastors or theologians. He has written extensively on the subject of the resurrection, particularly the hope that is unleashed by a robust embrace of it. In this set of meditations, he is speaking more intimately of death and the hope of the eternal life - in this life. He asks questions about the death itself, what is it and how is it overcome. He probes tenderly and pastorally the implications of Christ resurrection for the dead as well as those living. This book was written after the death of Moltmann’s wife with whom he shared the theological vocation throughout their life together. In the end, he cared for her. Hence, this book bears the marks of his own grief in search of the hope that abides at the heart of the Christian faith. Those who have followed his writing will hear the echoes of his earlier themes but this is not “old stuff” in a new cover. This is Moltmann freshly speaking a word that is radiant with his faith. “I have tried to learn what grief is. I have pondered the death and reawakening of a living soul. We die into resurrection, and the eternal life is the life of the world to come.” One comes away from reading this meditation with a renewed conviction of the triune God who Jesus Christ justifies the ungodly and brings life abundant.

[George Donigian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christian theologian Jurgen Moltmann wrote this small book after the death of his wife, theologian Elisabeth Moltmann. He considers questions asked by religious and non-religious people: Is there life after death? What could that life be? Moltmann, having influenced several generations of theological students, addresses these questions from the perspective of an intellectual faith. He grounds the conversation in a theology of hope and resurrection.

Moltmann turns to the Psalms and the Gospel of John, reminding readers of grace and the identification of God with light and the testimony of John 1:1-14.

He further asserts that our answers, no matter how certain we may feel about them, remain incomplete:

“The word dead assumes a final state of which we know nothing…. When the human’s connection to the world dies, so does the connection to the self. The dying no longer experience their own death. The connection to God, however, remains, for God is loyal and abides by them in divine love.” (p. 57)

With gratitude for the message.

[Richard Woodhouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well not what I was expecting, but it has good moments in the book. I prefer his more academic books where as in this its a bit more informal and a bit more personal as well. I think that His doctrine of a mercy full God, governs all of his writing and I certainly hope that He is right in that view. Looking at Death and the state of the World, I sometimes doubt that view. A World where God has to show his love in such a way. Sometimes, its a disturbing thought about Creation and God's bringing such a Creation into being in the first place.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moltmann's personal thoughts on the Christian faith, written after a lifetime of exploration and reflection.
A wonderful capstone on his theology of hope.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moltmann offers a brilliant and accessible summation of his theology of resurrection, dying, and the soul.