The Freedom of Christian Theology: New Studies in Dialogue with Eberhard Jüngel
Ebook
Eberhard Jüngel (1934-2021) belongs to the most creative, wide-ranging, rigorous, and demanding voices in twentieth-century Protestant theology. Over a long and distinguished career, Jüngel grappled with topics such as revelation, responsible talk about God, God's triunity, Christology, the nature of theological language, analogy, divine and human freedom, love, atheism, and theological approaches to the state. In all this, he had followed, perceptively yet critically, in the footsteps not only of Martin Luther, but also of G. W. F. Hegel, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Rudolf Bultmann, Martin Heidegger, and Karl Barth.
Despite the diversity of their own backgrounds and interests, the contributors to The Freedom of Christian Theology: New Studies in Dialogue with Eberhard Jüngel all share the conviction that Jüngel’s legacy lends itself to the same kind of constructive engagement that Jüngel himself practiced. The essays offered here bring Jüngel’s many-sided contributions to bear on the theological, philosophical, and social challenges of today. Each is an attempt to grapple, in the spirit of Eberhard Jüngel, with the mysteries of today’s world, which no less demand analytical care and penetrating insight. As an ongoing conversation with Jüngel, the essays model the freedom and joy of Christian theology to reflect on the world’s complexities out of the riches of the Christian tradition.
Introduction
Piotr J. Małysz and R. David Nelson
Chapter One: The Justification Event: A Phenomenological Supplement to Eberhard Jüngel’s Doctrine of Justification
Scott Bailey
Chapter Two: “God’s Being is in Coming”: Eberhard Jüngel’s Demythologized Doctrine of the Trinity
David Bruner
Chapter Three: For the Beauty of the Earth?: On Eberhard Jüngel’s Theological Aesthetics
Deborah Casewell
Chapter Four: Different Expressions of Justice in Salvation and Providence: Eberhard Jüngel on Theological Anthropology and Justification—with Help from Thomas Aquinas
David C. Chao
Chapter Five: Jüngel’s Spiritually light Pneumatology: Reflections on his “Triptych” on the Holy Spirit
Mark W. Elliott
Chapter Six: Jüngel’s Concept of Analogy: An Apologia for the Humanity of God
Paolo Gamberini, SJ
Chapter Seven: Metaphorical Truth and Christian Theology: Eberhard Jüngel on the Language of Faith
Paul R. Hinlicky
Chapter Eight: Revisiting Jüngel on the God/World Relation: Creation, Incarnation, and the Doctrine of Analogy
Christopher R.J. Holmes
Chapter Nine: The (Hi)story of God: The Function of Narrative in Eberhard Jüngel’s Divine Ontology
C. M. Howell
Chapter Ten: The Trinity and Reality: Trinitarian Doctrine between Grammar and Value
Piotr J. Małysz
Chapter Eleven: Theory and Praxis in Theology “after” Karl Barth: Eberhard Jüngel and Helmut Gollwitzer on Socialism and Solidarity
W. Travis McMaken
Chapter Twelve: John Webster’s Contribution to the Reception of Jüngel’s Theology in the Anglophone World
R. David Nelson
Chapter Thirteen: Evoking a Vocative Anthropology: Jüngel and Caputo on Political Pneumatology
B. Keith Putt
Chapter Fourteen: The Staurocentric Logic of Eberhard Jüngel: Pneumatology and Ecclesiology
Kathryn L. Reinhard
Chapter Fifteen: Jüngel’s Contribution to a Christian Hatred of Death: An Ecumenical Engagement
Robert Saler
Chapter Sixteen: The Quality of Christian Life and Theology: Some Remarks on Freedom
Philip G. Ziegler
Appendix: The Humanity of God and the Humanity of Humans: Theses on Eberhard Jüngel’s Theological Anthropology
Christoph Schwöbel
About the Contributors
The theological works of Eberhard Jüngel have never quite received the attention in English-language scholarship that their boldness, creativity, and insight deserve. In this volume, however, Małysz and Nelson begin to rectify this long-standing neglect, and set forth a compelling series of essays engaging his thought appreciatively yet critically. From justification to pneumatology, and from narrative to aesthetics, their contributors range widely and deeply over the themes present in Jüngel’s diverse corpus, informing and illuminating in equal measure. This is a truly welcome collection, ideal both for seasoned Jüngel devotees and those yet to enjoy his work.
Eberhard Jüngel’s theological writings have sometimes been more praised than read, more admired than used. The merit of the editors and contributors to this important volume lies in their engagement with Jüngel’s thought. He is not put on a pedestal but comes to life as a theologian capable of stimulating debate about some of the most pressing questions arising from the Christian faith. The book offers a fine example of theology for the twenty-first century generated in conversation with a leading voice of the recent past.
Eberhard Jüngel ranks among the most important German Protestant theologians of his generation. This volume demonstrates how relevant and stimulating his thinking remains. The authors explore a wide range of Jüngel’s concerns, relate them to historic and contemporary theologies, and identify key questions for further investigation. Anyone seeking to understand the difference that Jüngel does and should make for theology today will benefit from the serious scholarship represented here.
Piotr J. Małysz is associate professor of divinity at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama.
R. David Nelson is Director of Baylor University Press.