Wolfhart Pannenberg

1
Wolfhart Pannenberg
Wolfhart Pannenberg
Wolfhart Pannenberg (2 October 1928 5 September 2014) was a
German theologian. He has made a number of significant contributions
to modern theology, including his concept of history as a form of
revelation centered on the Resurrection of Christ, which has been
widely debated in both Protestant and Catholic theology, as well as by
non-Christian thinkers.
Life and views
Pannenberg was born on 2 October 1928 in Stettin, Germany, now
Szczecin, Poland. He was baptized as an infant into the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church, but otherwise had virtually
no contact with the church in his early years. At about the age of sixteen, however, he had an intensely religious
experience he later called his "light experience." Seeking to understand this experience, he began to search through
the works of great philosophers and religious thinkers. A high school literature teacher who had been a part of the
Confessing Church during World War II encouraged him to take a hard look at Christianity, which resulted in
Pannenberg's "intellectual conversion," in which he concluded that Christianity was the best available religious
option. This propelled him into his vocation as a theologian.
Pannenberg studied in Berlin, Gttingen, Heidelberg and Basel. In Basel, Pannenberg studied under Karl Barth. His
doctoral thesis at Heidelberg was on Edmund Schlink's views on predestination in the works of Duns Scotus, which
he submitted in 1953 and published a year later. His Habilitationsschrift in 1955 dealt with the relationship between
analogy and revelation, especially the concept of analogy in the teaching of God's knowledge.
Pannenberg's epistemology, explained clearly in his shorter essays, is crucial to his theological project. It is heavily
influenced by Schlink, who proposed a distinction between analogical truth, i.e. a descriptive truth or model, and
doxological truth, or truth as immanent in worship. In this way of thinking, theology tries to express doxological
truth. As such it is a response to God's self-revelation. Schlink was also instrumental in shaping Pannenberg's
approach to theology as an ecumenical enterprise an emphasis which has remained constant throughout his career.
Pannenberg's understanding of revelation is strongly conditioned by his reading of Karl Barth and Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel, as well as by a sympathetic reading of Christian and Jewish apocalyptic literature. The Hegelian
concept of history as an unfolding process in which Spirit and freedom are revealed combines with a Barthian notion
of revelation occurring "vertically from above". While Pannenberg adopts a Hegelian understanding of History itself
as God's self-revelation, he strongly asserts the Resurrection of Christ as a proleptic revelation of what history is
unfolding. Despite its obvious Barthian reference, this approach met with a mainly hostile response from both
neo-Orthodox and liberal, Bultmannian theologians in the 1960s, a response which Pannenberg claims surprised him
and his associates.
[1]
A more nuanced, mainly implied, critique came from Jrgen Moltmann, whose philosophical
roots lay in the Left Hegelians, Karl Marx and Ernst Bloch, and who proposed and elaborated a Theology of Hope,
rather than of prolepsis, as a distinctively Christian response to History.
As disciple of Karl Lwith, Panneberg has continued the debate against Hans Blumenberg in the so-called 'theorem
of secularization'. "Blumenberg targets Lwith's argument that progress is the secularization of Hebrew and
Christian beliefs and argues to the contrary that the modern age, including its belief in progress, grew out of a new
secular self-affirmation of culture against the Christian tradition."
Pannenberg is perhaps best known for Jesus: God and Man in which he constructs a Christology "from below,"
deriving his dogmatic claims from a critical examination of the life and particularly the Resurrection of Jesus of
Nazareth. This is his programmatic statement of the notion of "History as Revelation". He rejects traditional
Wolfhart Pannenberg
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Chalcedonian "two-natures" Christology, preferring to view the person of Christ dynamically in light of the
resurrection. This focus on the resurrection as the key to Christ's identity has led Pannenberg to defend its historicity,
stressing the experience of the risen Christ in the history of the early Church rather than the empty tomb.
Central to Pannenberg's theological career has been his defence of theology as a rigorous academic discipline, one
capable of critical interaction with philosophy, history, and most of all, the natural sciences. Pannenberg has also
defended the theology of American mathematical physicist Frank J. Tipler's Omega Point Theory (see Tipler 1989;
1994; 2007).
Pannenberg is an outspoken critic of the approval of homosexual relations by the Evangelical Church in Germany,
going so far as to say that a church which approves of homosexual practice is no longer a true church. He returned
his Federal Order of Merit after the decoration was awarded to a lesbian activist.
Career
Pannenberg speaking at a CDU conference in Bonn,
1983
Pannenberg has been a professor on the faculties of several
universities consistently since 1958. Between the years of 1958
and 1961 he was the Professor of Systematic Theology at the
Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal.
[2]
Between 1961 and 1968 he
was a professor in Mainz. He has had several visiting
professorships at the University of Chicago (1963), Harvard
(1966), and at the Claremont School of Theology (1967), and
since 1968 has been Professor of Systematic Theology at the
University of Munich.
[3]
He retired in 1993.
[4]
Throughout his career Pannenberg has remained a prolific writer.
As of December 2008, his "publication page" on the University of
Munich's website lists 645 academic publications to his name.
[5]
Books by Pannenberg in English
1968. Revelation As History (edited volume). New York: The Macmillan Company.
1968. Jesus: God and Man. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.
1969. Basic Questions in Theology. Westminster Press
1969. Theology and the Kingdom of God. Westminster Press.
1970. What Is Man? Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
1972. The Apostles' Creed in Light of Today's Questions. Westminster Press.
1976. Theology and the Philosophy of Science. Westminster Press.
1977. Faith and Reality. Westminster Press.
1985. Anthropology in Theological Perspective. T&T Clark
19881994. Systematic Theology. T & T Clark
1996. "Theologie und Philosophie. Ihr Verhltnis im Lichte ihrer gemeinsamen Geschichte". Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht.
Wolfhart Pannenberg
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Online writings
"God of the Philosophers,
[6]
" First Things, June/July 2007.
"Letter from Germany,
[7]
" First Things, March 2003.
"Facing Up: Science and Its Cultural Adversaries,
[8]
" First Things, August/September 2002.
"Review of Robert W. Jenson's Systematic Theology: Volumes I & II,
[9]
" First Things, May 2000.
"When Everything is Permitted,
[10]
" First Things, February 1998.
"The Pope in Germany,
[11]
" First Things, December 1996.
"How to Think About Secularism,
[12]
" First Things, June/July 1996.
"Christianity and the West: Ambiguous Past, Uncertain Future,
[13]
" First Things, December 1994.
"The Present and Future Church,
[14]
" First Things, November 1991.
"God's Presence in History,
[15]
" Christian Century (11 March 1981): 26063.
Secondary Literature
Bradshaw, Timothy, 1988. Trinity and ontology: a comparative study of the theologies of Karl Barth and
Wolfhart Pannenberg. Edinburgh: Rutherford House Books.
Case, Jonathan P., 2004, "The Death of Jesus and the Truth of the Triune God in Wolfhart Pannenberg and
Eberhard Jngel,
[16]
" Journal for Christian Theological Research 9: 113.
Fukai, Tomoaki, 1996. Paradox und Prolepsis: Geschichtstheologie bei Reinhold Niebuhr und Wolfhart
Pannenberg. Marburg
Grenz, S. J., 1990. Reason for Hope: The Systematic Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg. New York: Oxford.
--------, "Pannenberg on Marxism: Insights and Generalizations,
[17]
" The Christian Century (30 September 1987):
82426.
--------, "Wolfhart Pannenberg's Quest for Ultimate Truth,
[18]
" The Christian Century (1421 September 1988):
79598.
Lischer, Richard, "An Old/New Theology of History,
[19]
" The Christian Century (13 March 1974): 28890.
Don H. Olive, 1973. Wolfhart Pannenberg-Makers of the Modern Mind. Word Incorporated, Waco, Texas.
Page, James S., 2003, "Critical Realism and the Theological Science of Wolfhart Pannenberg: Exploring the
Commonalities,
[20]
" Bridges: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, Theology, History and Science 10(1/2):
7184.
Schwarz, Hans, 2012. 'Wolfhart Pannenberg' in The Blackwell Companion to Science and Christianity J.B. Stump
and Alan G. Padgett (eds.) Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Shults, F. LeRon, 1999. The Postfoundationalist Task of Theology: Wolfhart Pannenberg and the New
Theological Rationality. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Tipler, F. J., 1989, "The Omega Point as Eschaton: Answers to Pannenberg's Questions for Scientists,
[21]
" Zygon
24: 21753. Followed by Pannenberg's comments, 255-71.
--------, 1994. The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead. New York:
Doubleday.
--------, 2007. The Physics of Christianity. New York: Doubleday.
Tupper, E. F., 1973. The Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg. Philadelphia: Westminster press.
Woo, B. Hoon (2012). "Pannenbergs Understanding of the Natural Law"
[22]
. Studies in Christian Ethics 25 (3):
346366. doi:10.1177/0953946812444686
[23]
.
Wolfhart Pannenberg
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References
[1] Wolfhart Pannenberg: 'Gods Presence in History', in the Christian Century, 11 March 1981, pp. 260263.
[2] [2] There is a Wikipedia article (in German) about the Kirchliche Hochschule fr reformatorische Theologie in Wuppertal-Elberfeld, established
in 1935
[3] Brief biography from University of Munich website (in German) (http:/ / www. st-foe. evtheol. uni-muenchen. de/ personen/ pannenberg/ vita/
index. html)
[4] [4] Roger Olson, The Journey of Modern Theology, 479
[5] Publications by Pannenberg listed on the University of Munich's website (http:/ / www. st-foe. evtheol. uni-muenchen. de/ personen/
pannenberg/ publikationen/ index. html)
[6] http:/ / www. firstthings. com/ article/ 2009/ 02/ 002-god-of-the-philosophers-9
[7] http:/ / www. firstthings. com/ article/ 2007/ 01/ letter-from-germany-21
[8] http:/ / www. firstthings. com/ article/ 2007/ 01/ facing-up-science-and-its-cultural-adversaries-26
[9] http:/ / www. firstthings. com/ article/ 2007/ 01/ systematic-theology-volumes-i-amp-ii-25
[10] http:/ / www.firstthings.com/ article/ 2008/ 10/ 002-when-everything-is-permitted-43
[11] http:/ / www.firstthings.com/ article/ 2007/ 11/ 003-the-pope-in-germany--48
[12] http:/ / www.firstthings.com/ article/ 2007/ 10/ 002-how-to-think-about-secularism-39
[13] http:/ / www.firstthings.com/ article/ 2007/ 01/ christianity-and-the-westambiguous-past-uncertain-future-6
[14] http:/ / www.firstthings.com/ article/ 2007/ 12/ 006-the-present-and-future-church-33
[15] http:/ / www.religion-online. org/ showarticle.asp?title=1710
[16] http:/ / www.luthersem.edu/ ctrf/ JCTR/ Vol09/ Case. pdf
[17] http:/ / www.religion-online. org/ showarticle.asp?title=89
[18] http:/ / www.religion-online. org/ showarticle.asp?title=59
[19] http:/ / www.religion-online. org/ showarticle.asp?title=1596
[20] http:/ / eprints.qut.edu.au/ archive/ 00003612/
[21] http:/ / www3.interscience. wiley. com/ journal/ 119442501/ abstract?CRETRY=1& SRETRY=0
[22] https:/ / www.academia. edu/ 3325466/ _Pannenbergs_Understanding_of_the_Natural_Law_Studies_in_Christian_Ethics_25_no.
_3_2012_346-366
[23] http:/ / dx. doi.org/ 10. 1177%2F0953946812444686
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wolfhart Pannenberg.
Articles in First Things (http:/ / www. firstthings. com/ simpleSearch. php?offset=0&
mySqlSearchCriteria="Wolfhart+ Pannenberg")
Articles related to and by Pannenberg. (http:/ / www. theology. ie/ theologians/ pannen. htm) Links not
functional at this point in time!
Richard John Neuhaus, 1982, " Pannenberg Jousts with the World Council of Churches. (http:/ / www.
religion-online. org/ showarticle. asp?title=1282)" Christian Century.
Article Sources and Contributors
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Article Sources and Contributors
Wolfhart Pannenberg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=624732066 Contributors: AlexanderLondon, Alfredo hitchgallo, Andy goodliff, Aristides, Ary29, Atamari,
Brunohonurb, Cnilep, Coyets, DanaBates, Daniel the Monk, Danielst, Dogaroon, Dr. Leslie Robert Keylock, Dtjohnso, Eb7473, Enno, Eyesnore, Flex, Frochtrup, Furor Teutonicus, Gabal,
Galwhaa, Gustave G., Iamcfar, JHobson3, Jacob1207, Jamessmithpage, Jamiemichelle, Jaxl, Jfhutson, Jimzambrano, Jmrich2178, JoeCarter888, JohnChrysostom, Johnpacklambert, KHM03,
Kencf0618, Kevin Rector, Koavf, Mauro Lanari, Maverick1958, Mitch Ames, Molobo, Monegasque, More blessing, Ohconfucius, Olessi, Omnipaedista, Pastorwayne, Rholton, Rich
Farmbrough, Rjwilmsi, Robofish, Rockypedia, Rodney Boyd, Sethjames, Sjwells53, SlaveToTheWage, StAnselm, Stephensuleeman, Stockton1969, TDKR Chicago 101, Tennii, Tentatio21,
Ugha, Vojvodaen, Waacstats, , 43 anonymous edits
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