Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Crucified God

I received a complimentary copy of The Crucified God by Jurgen Moltmann from Fortress Press. Without a doubt, this book is more difficult to review than any other book I have read. A thorough review would require a book and I feel entirely inadequate to pursue the project. Moltmann is obviously much more well-read than I am and possesses an intellect far superior to my own. The book very rightly centers all theology in the crucified God. There are portions of this book that I could post that I absolutely agree with and ideas that are stated in the most profound ways.

Moltmann is truly a genius and almost all of his premises appear to be true. It's the conclusions that I have a problem with. There appear to be a number of philosophical presuppositions that Moltmann assumes and bases his conclusions on. This leads Moltmann to sound at times like a modalist, other times like a Tritheist, and at other times a panentheist. I just find it remarkable that Moltmann manages to start with the crucified God to lead us to each of these strange conclusions.

The book is highly influential and should probably be read by pastors that are dealing with liberal theology in their denominations to at least understand where some of these people are coming from. But I doubt that the average lay person will even understand what Moltmann saying.

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