Diligentia: Journal of Theology and Christian Education ojs.uph.edu/index.php/DIL
E-ISSN: 2686-3707
The Church in The Public Space: Lessons from The Exodus Church in Jürgen Moltmann’s Theology of Hope Isaac Karkari Osei1 and Emmanuel Obimpeh-Quayson2 1, 2)
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Department of Religion and Human Development, Ghana Correspondence email: oseikark@gmail.com, eoquayson@gmail.com
Received: 12/08/2024
Accepted: 01/10/2024
Published: 30/09/2024
Abstract The ecclesial community's call to duty and ability to carry out its mission is centered on how relevant it must become to the existential realities of those living in the public sphere. Jürgen Moltmann makes what can only be considered as a concise statement when he states that, to make Christianity accessible to the masses, theology must openly uphold the universal concerns of God's coming Kingdom. The church, following its own faith principles, must demonstrate "general concern in the light of hope in Christ for the kingdom of God" by becoming "political in the name of the poor and the marginalized in a given society, by thinking critically about the religious and moral values of the societies in which it exists." Christian theology continues to be the mouthpiece of the church. This article's goal is to discuss Jürgen Moltmann's straightforward explanation of the church's public relevance in helping people remember why it exists in all forms of human sociality. This article's reflections aim to highlight the fact that the Christian church can only be seen to be fulfilling its mission when it is perceived as the voice of the voiceless, bringing God's fullness to human flourishing, and providing true meaning to human tranquillity in a difficult and uncertain world. Keywords: Christianity, civil society, public church, public theology, modern society, kingdom of God.
Introduction Exodus church is an analysis by Jürgen Moltmann which is based on the entreaty by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 13:13-14) for Christian faithful who are identified as having no continuing city in the present world to seek one to come. Jürgen Moltmann was a German Reformed theologian, a Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Tubingen, Germany. A foremost theologian who became popular through his work of the Theology of Hope from which the sub-title, the “Exodus Church” became the focus of our reflection. Moltmann passed on at age 98, on June 3rd, 2024. His legacy and theology cannot be summarized into one sentence as also has been reiterated by Janna Gonwa of the Martin Marty Center of the University of Chicago Divinity School, USA. We could state for the purposes of this article that, his theological treatises critically emphasized a Christocentric theological reflection, bringing into focus the humanity of God through Jesus of Nazareth. The calling of Christians who live on the eternal hope of Jesus the Christ and who are born into the community of the life of the people, must always recognize the mission of Christian theology; to critical identify with the plight of the ordinary people and nature crying