JURGEN MOLTMANN: A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION 2.
Stephen Williams
Stephen Wt11iams is Professor of ~stematic Theology at Union Theological College, Be!fast. He is the author of Revelation and Reconciliation: a Window on Modernity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 199J).
Preface The following account of Moltmann's thought was first published in 1987. It ended with an appendix on what was then Moltmann's latest major work, God In Creation (1985), the second of a series of volumes making up his studies in dogmatics. That work was succeeded by The Wtry ofJesus Christ (1989) and then The Spirit of Life (1992). At the time, I wrote brief reviews of these which are now reprinted here as part of the Appendix. Moltmann's series of studies in dogmatics began with The Trinity and the Kingdom of God, so we see how the subsequent three volumes followed a trinitarian sequence, dealing with God, Christ and the Spirit, respectively. Moltmann's doctrine of the Trinity made its appearance in his second major work prior to this particular series, namely The Crucified God. His very first volume, which launched him on to the international scene, was Theology of Hope: On the Grounds and Implications of Christian Eschatology. So, fittingly enough, these later trinitarian studies were followed by a volume on eschatology, The Coming