Theological Journal - April 13: Easter
Theological Journal – April 13
Moltmann Monday – Easter
“Believing
in the resurrection does not just mean assenting to a dogma and noting a
historical fact. It means participating in this creative act of God’s …
Resurrection is not a consoling opium, soothing us with the promise of a better
world in the hereafter. It is the energy for a rebirth of this life. The hope
doesn’t point to another world. It is focused on the redemption of this one.”
Jesus’ resurrection is a reality as or more relevant to the here
and now than the then and there! That’s what Moltmann claims here. Contra Karl
Marx, Christianity, based on the assurance of a hope for life with God after
death in the then and there, is for Moltmann, based on that same resurrection,
an energetic “steroid” for life with Jesus before death in the here and now. He
is about a “Christianity Today,” not a “Christianity Tomorrow”! As Moltmann
says, “The hope doesn’t point to another world. It is focused on the redemption
of this one.”
The “life of the age to come” (what John calls “eternal life”)
is the present reality for the church from which it lives as well as the
fullness we wait for it the future. A rediscovery of this great truth in our
experience as the church is much needed in today’s world.
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