God and the Future: Wolfhart Pannenberg's Eschatological Doctrine of God

by Christiaan Mostert

Publisher:

T&T Clark

, 2002

Overview

An introduction to the theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg. Pannenberg’s extensive works, especially his recently published Systematic Theology, are increasingly regarded as of major importance. Professor Mostert here provides not only a general introduction to Pannenberg’s theology, and many keys to enable the serious reader of theology to access Pannenberg’s individual works, but also sets Pannenberg’s complex thought in the broadest context of contemporary philosophical and theological thought.

Contents

Top Highlights

“From this love God moves beyond the divine self-sufficiency to the creation, reconciliation and perfection of a finite ‘other’, and grants it participation in the unity of God’s trinitarian life.” (Page 225)

“God’s being is God’s rule; ‘the deity of God is his rule’.¹⁰ God’s rule is an expression of God’s power, and the idea of power is implicit in the very idea of deity.” (Page 5)

“The future of the divine rule and God’s eternity coincide; they come together in the eschaton. Thus the change of focus does not indicate a material change in Pannenberg’s theology. But God’s eternity must have priority over God’s futurity because God’s being encompasses all the modes of time. As Pannenberg says, ‘all time is before the eyes of God as a whole’.⁷³ For God everything past, present and future is simultaneously present; this is implied in God’s eternity. Only in relation to the temporal process may priority be ascribed to the future. To speak of God as the power of the future is appropriate from within the temporal process. As far as God’s being is concerned, God’s futurity is not set over against God’s eternity.” (Page 144)

“The essence of a being is not decided till the final moment of its existence. But when that time is reached it may then be said that such was its essence all along. Only the whole—incomplete till the end—can determine the essence of something or someone. We cannot apply the idea of the ‘end’ to God, but the eschatological consummation of God’s rule over all finite reality is the point at which God’s essential being will be both constituted and unambiguously known. What will then turn out to be the case about God will have been God’s essence all along. The essence of something requires wholeness, and wholeness requires closure of some kind.” (Page 158)

Product Details

• Title: God and the Future: Wolfhart Pannenberg's Eschatological Doctrine of God
• Author: Christiaan Mostert
• Publisher: T & T Clark
• Publication Date: 2002
• Pages: 288

About Christiaan Mostert

Christiaan Mostert is Professor of Systematic Theology, Uniting Church Theological Hall, and Lecturer in Theology, United Faculty of Theology, Melbourne.