Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Setting the scene: a modern debate about faith and history
- 2 Relating scripture and systematic theology: some preliminary issues
- 3 Ways of approaching the Book of Revelation
- 4 The spatial dimension of the Book of Revelation
- 5 The temporal dimension of the Book of Revelation
- 6 Pannenberg, Moltmann, and the Book of Revelation
- 7 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index of passages cited
- Index of modern authors
- Index of subjects
6 - Pannenberg, Moltmann, and the Book of Revelation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Setting the scene: a modern debate about faith and history
- 2 Relating scripture and systematic theology: some preliminary issues
- 3 Ways of approaching the Book of Revelation
- 4 The spatial dimension of the Book of Revelation
- 5 The temporal dimension of the Book of Revelation
- 6 Pannenberg, Moltmann, and the Book of Revelation
- 7 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index of passages cited
- Index of modern authors
- Index of subjects
Summary
Introduction
In 1972 an influential book by Klaus Koch, the German Old Testament scholar, appeared in English as The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic. Koch charted the way in which theologians from different disciplines – both biblical studies and systematics – had begun to rediscover apocalyptic texts as a resource for contemporary theological reflection. He paid particular attention to two German systematicians, Wolfhart Pannenberg and Jürgen Moltmann, both of whom had worked extensively on the relationship between theology and history, using apocalyptic texts as exegetical support. The work of Pannenberg and Moltmann has often been characterized as a reaction against a dehistoricizing tendency evident in the dialectical theology of a previous generation of theologians, represented most clearly by Rudolf Bultmann. In fact, the original German title of Koch's book, Ratlos vor der Apokalyptik (which may be loosely translated as ‘At a Loss over Apocalyptic’), indicates something of the awkwardness and embarrassment apocalyptic had caused this earlier generation. In the face of the Bultmannian stress on the overwhelming importance of the present moment, and its dismissal of historical fact as a basis for faith, both Pannenberg and Moltmann have reaffirmed the centrality of history in theological understanding, and have used interpretations of apocalyptic in so doing.
Although the work of Pannenberg and Moltmann has important common features (for example, their interest in apocalyptic, their reaction against dialectical theology, and the strong orientation of their theology to the future), there are also important differences of emphasis.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- God and History in the Book of RevelationNew Testament Studies in Dialogue with Pannenberg and Moltmann, pp. 143 - 200Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003