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.
Mark W. Elliott is Professor of Biblical and Historical Theology at Highland Theological College, UK and Professorial Fellow at Wycliffe College, Canada.
is Senior Lecturer in
Theology in the Department of Theology and Religion, University of Otago, New
Zealand, and an Anglican Priest.
R. David Nelson is director of Baylor University Press, USA
Christoph Schwoebel is Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Tübingen, Germany.
Philip G. Ziegler is Chair in Christian Dogmatics at the University of Aberdeen, UK.