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TechnoratiNEW YORK – A prominent German theologian urged Christians to rethink their expectations of “the final judgment,” reasoning that western Christianity and all of society has been instilled with images of a world-ending apocalypse centered on vengeance for evil-doers and unbelievers.
“The images we use are certainly apocalyptical. But are they Christian? No,” said Jürgen Moltmann at the 37th Trinity Institute national theological conference held this week. The emeritus professor of systematic theology at Germany’s University of Tübingen is widely considered to be one of the most important theologians of the last 50 years.
During his presentation at the three-day conference which concluded Wednesday, Moltmann spoke on “The Final Judgment: Sunrise of Christ’s Liberating Justice”
Those who anticipate the end of the world live in the long evening of death and anticipate the final night, Moltmann said, rather than living in the hope of the resurrection and anticipating the final morning. They claim a “glorious end” to the earth rather than anticipating the “beginning of eternal liveliness” on earth.
“To put it in simple terms Jesus is not dead, Jesus is alive in all eternity,” the German theologian said. “Deliverance from evil in the big new life is the beginning of a universal, and the living God of all things – this is the beginning already.”
Moltmann said Christians are now called to join the risen Christ in his protest so that everyone can see that this life is worth living now, rather than marking time in anticipation of future glory.
“It is not just speculation about the future, an extrapolation of the present or the past, but an anticipation of the coming of God,” he said, according to the Episcopal News Service. “A calling to change the present. This is prophecy.”
Referring to 2 Corinthians 5:17, Moltmann urged Christians to pray and open their eyes for the Word of God, remembering we are not the former beings but that we will do new things.
“The main signs of Christianity are the coming and the death and resurrection of Christ,” he commented. “This is the one sign which we have to interpret our lives and world history.”
Moltmann said it is imperative to counter the world’s friend-or-foe attitude by “considering everyone whom we meet” to be a believer because God believes in them and Christ died for them “as well as us.”
Christians must remember that Christ “took sides with the victims and redeemed the perpetrators from their violence,” Moltmann said. He noted that Christ healed sinners and loved everyone – victim and perpetrator alike – and bore the sins of the world, suffering when humans suffer.
“We must carry the memory of Christ otherwise none of us will be able to recognize him” when He comes again, he said.
“The perpetrators of evil will afterwards experience the justice that puts things for right,” he said. “They will thereby be transformed in as much as they will be relieved or be forgiven with the victims. They will be saved by the crucified Christ who comes to them together with their victims.”
This judgment is not about reward and punishment but “the victory of God’s creative justice” and the transformation of the world. “God who guarantees this justice is guaranteed from the cross,” said Moltmann. Continue >>
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