Diacovensia (Apr 2019)
Kategorija prostora u trinitarnoj teologiji Jürgena Moltmanna
Abstract
Because of its constituent function within the category of history, time has always been a very important and frequently discussed topic in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and later in Christian theology, while the category of space in that same theology has remained more at the periphery of interest. However, in contemporary Christian theology, there is an awakened interest in this category and an attempt to show it as an immanent theological category, as we recognize within it the existential religious question of human search for God’s presence and closeness. It is an approach where space is contemplated as a relative dimension in relation to God and man, and on the other hand as a possible characteristic of God’s very being. With this argumentation, the question of space has also found its place in the theological explorations of Jürgen Moltmann. He ponders how to contemplate space within the experience of God, that is, how to contemplate and understand God if we try to contemplate space in God and God in space. He explores this issue through his religious-theological openness to the world (clearly visible within his theology of creation), but above all through a consistent internal development of his entire theological thought which is centered and grounded in trinitarian theology, a fact that is recognized and shown in this paper. Moltmann would find some starting elements for his theological reflection on space in the Old Testament understanding of God (»šekinah«, »makom« and »zimzum«), as presented in the first part of this paper, while he would find and develop the fundamental grounds for a theological interpretation of the category of space only within the trinitarian Christian doctrine, as presented in the second central part. Here we show that the patristic doctrine of perichoresis has served as Moltmann’s main grounds to clearly focus on the category of space as a theological category, which is recognized as the fundamental turning point within his theology. Finally, the third part of the paper presents the consistencies which extend from Moltmann’s trinitarian reflections to his theology of creation, and later to Christian eschatology, where the reflection on the category of space holds a very important place. This category has somehow proved to be the fundamental category of his theology, but also the red thread that is always re-emerging, interconnecting and completely permeating and defining that theology.
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