Revolutionary in Theology: In Memoriam Jürgen Moltmann

Zoran Grozdanov is an associate professor at the University Center for Protestant Theology Matthias Flacius Illyricus, University of Zagreb.

On 3 June 2024 one of the foremost theologians of the twentieth century, Jürgen Moltmann, died. He was most acclaimed in academia for his book Theology of Hope, first published in 1964 (English translation in 1967) and  featured on the cover of The New York Times in 1968. Moltmann is even more famous outside the academic community for his 1971 book The Crucified God. He authored many books covering all fields of Christian theology: Christology, doctrine of God, eschatology, ecclesiology, and more. Moltmann is also widely acclaimed as the theologian about whom was written the largest number of books during his lifetime—more than 500.

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The Great Inventor: In Memoriam Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon

Andrey Shishkov is a research fellow at the School of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Tartu (Estonia) and a member of the “Orthodoxy as Solidarity” research projects supported by the Estonian Research Council. 

On 2 February 2023, John Zizioulas, Orthodox hierarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and one of the most influential theologians of the past 50 years, passed away at age 92. He is known worldwide for his theology of communion, described in his two major works: Being as Communion (1985) and Communion and Otherness (2006). These books offer an attempt at a systematic theology that brings together various theological disciplines (such as triadology, Christology, ecclesiology, anthropology, pneumatology, and eschatology) based on the idea that being is communion. His opponents regarded him as a heretic and a modernist, while his supporters considered him one of the greatest minds of the Orthodox Church in history.

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Archbishop Tutu and the People Left in the Dust

Christine M. Venter is a Teaching Professor at Notre Dame Law School and Affiliated Faculty in Gender Studies at the University of Notre Dame

Nobel laureate, first black Anglican Archbishop, leader of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, prominent anti-apartheid activist, husband and father, Desmond Mpilo Tutu was all of those things and more, but to the people of South Africa he was simply “Arch” or “the Arch.” Looking back at his life and accomplishments, one might suppose that he was an unapproachable, iconic, historic figure but it was in his outsize sense of humor, humility, passion for justice, and affinity for those at the margins of society that people will remember him for.

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