The Problem of God in History in the Works of Wolfhart Pannenberg (Its Philosophical, Dogmatic, and Ecumenical Aspects)

Abstract

The author studies the problem of the working of God in history, a subject which was constitutive of the German Protestant theologian’s Wolfhart Pannenberg (*1928) theology of history. This article examines the philosophical, dogmatic, and ecumenical aspects of the problem. Philosophical aspects include the idea of God as both transcendent and imminent in the world, the eternal history of God in Himself, and the dependence of God on the history of the world. The contributions of Hegel, Kierkegaard, and the theologian Karl Barth are taken into account. The dogmatic aspect involves the doctrines concerning divine revelation and the Trinity. Pannenberg’s theory of the union between the historical revelation of the triune God and the inner (imminent) divine life of the Trinity is discussed. His idea of the historical-soteriological activity of the persons of the Blessed Trinity and the way in which the divine persons inter-relate in the unity of the Trinity is analyzed, especially in the way this is revealed in the action of the divine economy or history of salvation, the central events of which are the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The author does not forget to mention the way Pannenberg explains the perichoresic rapport existing between the divine persons of the Trinity. The author continues with a survey of the later works of Pannenberg, in which the German theologian develops his ideas concerning the eschatological perspectives of the divine economy as related to the revelation of the world to come already anticipated in the Kingdom of God and in the being of the Trinity. The ecumenical aspects of Pannenberg’s theology include the way he sets forth the problem of the relationship between the imminent and economic doctrine of the Trinity, a question which has become a subject of inter-Christian dialogue. The author fi nally reflects on the arguments of western theologians who have identified the working of the imminent and economic Trinity, as well as those contemporary Orthodox theologians (John Meyendorff and Athanasios Vletsis) who have likewise commented on the problem.

Keywords

• Wolfhart Pannenberg
• contemporary German Protestantism
• the historicity of God
• imminent and economic doctrines of the Trinity
• pantheism