In this deeply personal and daring meditation, eminent theologian Jürgen Moltmann challenges many closely held beliefs about the experience of dying, the nature of death, and the hope of eternal life. Moving deftly between biblical, theological, and existential domains, Moltmann argues that while we know intimately the experience of dying--both our loved ones' dying and, ultimately, our own--death itself is a mystery. Are those who have died in fact dead? If the dead are alive, how or in what respect? When the dead awaken to eternal life, who wakes? Moltmann's interrogations yield surprising and beautiful fruits. The living soul that awakens to eternal life is not a ghost in a machine, but the Lebensgestalt, the shape and story of a life, its human and divine contexts, its "whole." Drawing on themes from his oeuvre's entire arc, Resurrected to Eternal Life testifies to the inner unity of Moltmann's theology: the cross, the Spirit, the kingdom, the end, and the hope that makes the end present here and now. Seasoned readers of Moltmann will find in these pages a capstone of a lifetime of theological exploration, while those new to his complex thought will find a concise and elegant entry point into his voluminous work.
"Written after the loss of his beloved wife Elisabeth, this personal book brings together many lines of Moltmann's wonderfully rich and life-giving theology (and records a recent change of mind). Faced with death as we all are, he invites us here not to the art of dying but to the art of resurrection-living, to a life in the here and now as an echo of the true life in the world to come."
Miroslav Volf, Yale Divinity School
"In this moving and deeply pastorally sensitive book, Moltmann demonstrates once again his ability to write on difficult and culturally relevant topics of enduring significance. The theological meaning of death, dying and bodily resurrection becomes transformed through imaginative dwelling with the witnesses in the biblical account, particularly women. This is a book that deserves to be read time and time again."
Celia Deane-Drummond, Director, Laudato Si' Research Institute, University of Oxford
"This moving testimony of hope beautifully knits together the personal, communal, and cosmic implications of God's loving work of resurrection and new life. In the face of ecocide, abiding injustice, and traumatized communities, the book is a timely reminder of why and how we can practice resurrection in the here and now."
Nancy Elizabeth Bedford, Georgia Harkness Professor of Theology, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
"In this honest exploration of "everlasting liveliness" the great theologian of hope fine-tunes Christian hope for eternal life. Rich with poetry, with scripture, with experience, this meditation on the new creation opens a dimension of faith too often closed to modern and liberal Christianities. Moltmann is offering a great gift, wrapped lovingly in highly readable prose, to pastors and laity alike."
Catherine Keller, George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology, Drew Theological School