Indwelling the Forsaken Other: The Trinitarian Ethics of Jurgen Moltmann

Indwelling the Forsaken Other is a critical reading of Jurgen Moltmann’s ethics of discipleship. While Moltmann’s notable turn to the inner life of the Trinity as a source for his reflections on the life of the church is influential, it is not without problems. The call emerging from Moltmann’s reflection upon Trinitarian life--to copy God in our relationships--may offer some general direction for our actions; however, it also raises several questions. Two important questions for this work are, In what way are we to copy God? and What conditions make it possible to copy God? Moltmann’s answers to these questions are insufficient, and consequently he fails to protect the difference between Creator and creation in his analogia relationis. As a result, the ethical direction of Moltmann’s work seems to be increasingly muddied and, at best, paradoxical.

J. Matthew Bonzo is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Cornerstone University. With Michael Stevens, he is the author of At Home in Creation: Wendell Berry’s Vision for LIfe. He resides in Sand Lake, Michigan, where he and his family operate Small Wonders Farm.