Moltmann and the imagination
When I was studying theology at the University of St Andrews from 1982-88, one of my set texts was Jurgen Moltmann’s The Crucified God. The aging copy below bears the bright pink highlighting of a student keen to retain the depth and breadth of what the book was saying. When I took another degree at Spurgeon’s College from 1988-92, the same book was on the list. I read it differently this time. I was serving in a pastorate by then. It just so happened that I was studying Moltmann at the time there was a young father in the church committed suicide. Frankly, Moltmann’s was the only kind of theology I could stomach at the time.
Now I have encountered Moltmann a third time at the BMS Catalyst Live event. Out of the third encounter the ‘chocolate box’ you see below was born. Keen to introduce my church leaders to the exquisite theology on offer from Moltmann and others at the event, I selected a number of direct quotes from the panel of speakers. Each was then rolled as a scroll and inserted in the box. At our Leadership Team meeting we passed the box around like a box of chocolates, selecting a scroll, unrolling it, reading it out and then passing the box on until all were gone. Each was read without comment or question, and then we prayed. It proved to be one of the richest and most profound times of prayer we have experienced for a long time.
Theology need not be elitist of off-putting. The secret’s in the packaging…
