Pannenberg memorial

A memorial of Wolfhart Pannenberg (1928-2014) Based on material from J. A. McClean, From the Future: getting to grips with Pannenberg’s thought Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2013. ! Wolfhart Pannenberg, one of the great theologians of the second half of the 21st century died in Munich this weekend. I never met him directly, but I spent several years of my life reading his works as closely as I could and coming to terms with his fascinating view of theology. This note about his life and thought is a tribute to him and, I hope, an encouragement to read him. ! Wolfhart Pannenberg was part of the generation who came of age in Germany in the years after WWII. He was born in 1928 in Stettin and his family arrived in Berlin in 1942. There they came close to being destroyed by Allied bombing. He came from a secular family and had no direct exposure to the church. His first encounter came through his love of music which lead him to read The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900). Pannenberg was not, finally, convinced by Nietzche’s critique of Christianity, but he always considered it something to be overcome rather than ignored. ! Soon after beginning to read Nietzsche, Pannenberg had an experience which opened him to the possibility of the existence of God. Here is how he reports it. ! 1 The single most important experience occurred in early January 1945, when I was 16 years old. On a lonely two-hour walk home from my piano lesson, seeing an otherwise ordinary sunset, I was suddenly flooded by light and absorbed in a sea of light which, although it did not extinguish the humble awareness of my finite existence, overflowed the barriers that normally separate us from the surrounding world. … I did not know at the time that January 6 was the day of Epiphany, nor did I realize that in that moment Jesus Christ had claimed my life as a witness to the transfiguration of this world in the illuminating power and judgment of his glory. But there began a period of craving to understand the meaning of life, and since philosophy did not seem to offer the ultimate answers to such a quest, I finally decided to probe the Christian tradition more seriously than I had considered worthwhile before.1 Pannenberg, “God’s Presence”, Christian Century (11 March 1981): 260. At the end of the war Pannenberg returned to Berlin to continue studies. Around the same time he met Christians who were, surprisingly, “jolly and joyous human beings”, nothing like the portrait of Christians drawn by Nietzsche. ! As a young adult, many of the concerns of Pannenberg’s career were already emerging. Having come to Christianity from secularism he was very aware that faith is not straightforward for many modern people, he appreciated the criticisms of intellectual atheism were significant. Pannenberg is usually considered anything but a Christian mystic, yet his initial steps to faith were prompted by a vision which seemed to him to be a foreshadowing of a revelation of God’s glory which would fill the whole world and include him. The expectation of that revelation, and its anticipation, play a key role in the structure of his thought and guide his response to the questions of intellectual atheism. ! Once Pannenberg began to study theology he had some of the great teachers of the era including a semester with Karl Barth in Basel. Even at the time he was critical of Barth and continued to disagree with him on important points. He did, however, keep Barth’s emphasis on God’s sublimity and majesty and the need for revelation. Gerhard von Rad introduced him to an approach to Old Testament exegesis which was both critical and theological. His philosophy teacher, Karl Lowith, was a previous student of Wilhelm Dilthey and Martin Heidegger — two critics of metaphysics and belief in God. They both thought that a historical study of philosophy showed that metaphysical beliefs are constantly changing and, so, unreliable. Pannenberg completed a doctorate in 1953, writing dissertations on medieval theology and he was ordained as a Lutheran pastor the same year. ! Pannenberg began his career as a theological teacher at Heidelberg and discovered the importance of Hegel for theology. Like Dilthey and Heidegger, Hegel emphasised the importance of history, but as the revelation (and even realisation) of God. Pannenberg rejected the idea that he was ‘Hegelian’, but he was clearly influenced by Hegel in some ways. ! Partially influenced by the emphasis on history in his philosophical interests and in Von Rad’s view of the Old Testament, Pannenberg organised a group of young scholars to write a collection of essays (Revelation as History). In his piece he argued that revelation is universal history which is only completed in the eschaton, that is in the final state of God’s kingdom. It is not simply a few special, isolated, events. There is, however, a anticipatory revelation in Jesus resurrection. ! One way to summarise the rest of Pannenberg’s work is that he is attempting to show that the revelation of God, anticipated in Jesus’ resurrection, is the glory he sensed in his early vision and so the objections raised by the philosophical atheist will be answered fully then, and can be answered in part, now, in anticipation of the end. ! Over the years Pannenberg developed this view in interaction with a whole host of philosophers, theologians, Bible scholars and scientists. He was convinced that theology is a “science” (Wissenschaft) — which is better translated a “scholarly enquiry”. Pannenberg argues that theology is a science (or at least it can be) since theological statements should strive to be realistic and demonstrably so. To be “realistic” in this context means that there is a reality outside of the words themselves which the words describe and against which the words can be tested for their truthfulness. Pannenberg takes the the truth of God as the central hypothesis for theology. He accepted a view that science always works with hypotheses which are open to testing and either refutation or confirmation. However this confirmation is never final, the process of questioning and testing must always continue. ! ! In 1964 Pannenberg became a Professor of Theology at Munich university and he remained there until he retired in 1994. He wrote prolifically and his though matured, though the development was along very consistent lines. Pannenberg’s big question for theology is “Is God true?”, that is, “Is the Triune God, the God of Jesus, the reality which determines all other reality”. If this is true, then it will only be true when it is completely apparent that God does determine all things, and that will only occur in God’s future kingdom when “God is all in all” (as the apostle Paul writes in 1 Cor 15:28). That is, Pannenberg’s view of truth is “eschatological”, reality comes from the future. ! In the meantime, theology is left with the task of seeking to test and confirm its own claims. How can it do that? It will involve patiently examining the breadth of human experience and considering if it is coherent with the claims. Because of this Pannenberg increasingly felt that he had to show the interaction of theology with a range of other academic disciplines. In particular he has focussed on history as the realm in which there are anticipations of the fullness of reality which God will bring. Pannenberg’s theology seeks to show the truth of God who is at work in history and who will bring all things into harmony from the future. That is not an abstract theological program, it is one that he has come to because he wants to answer the questions which confront him as someone in a secular society who surprisingly encountered God and has been convinced that life and history will not make sense apart from God. ! I won’t try here to summarise Pannenberg’s works or the details of his thought. Instead I want to list a few features of his thought which are particularly impressive. ! First, Pannenberg worked from a commitment to take as seriously as possible the questions of his context — from his initial questioning of Nietzsche to his discussion of the natural sciences. If the true God is the reality which determines all other reality, then reality will only make sense in light of understanding God. Secondly, the existence of God is under question in many ways in contemporary (Western) thought and if the church is going to bear witness to the true God, then theology must apply itself to examining and re-examining its case for God. ! Second, Pannenberg’s theology is an impressive synthesis of a wide range of material. He integrates discussion of Biblical texts with insightful assessments of the theological tradition and moves from that to discuss physics and metaphysics. Because he is concerned to present Christian theology as coherent, he constantly ties his various discussions into each other so they become a tightly woven conceptual tapestry. If God determines all reality, then when we view reality in his light we should be able to understand it. The way in which Pannenberg shows that various aspects of reality relate to each other and make sense together is what makes reading him difficult and exciting. The difficulty is that as you read you have to keep a whole host of discussions in mind; the result is an often-breathtaking Christian synthesis. ! Third, Pannenberg is aware that theology is a limited human exercise. He considers theological claims to be hypotheses which have to be constantly tested and which may need to be expressed in new ways or even abandoned. He makes this point by calling theological claims “doxological” because speech about God is rooted in adoration of him and is uttered in hope of its final confirmation. In a similar way, medieval scholastic theology spoke of language about God as analogical, which is to say that it expresses a truth about God but falls short of the reality of God in ways which we cannot know. He stresses the same humility in the face of God’s mystery as did the medieval approach, but by viewing this in an eschatological perspective he offers a note of confidence which is missing in traditional discussions of analogical language. We may not yet see God’s truth, but we have reasons to believe that we will. ! Fourth, Pannenberg takes the Bible and Christian tradition very seriously. He is not willing to allow theology to float free in a kind of unguarded speculation. ! Finally, Pannenberg knows that theology must be about God. It is the human attempt to think about and speak of God and in doing so to show the truth of God’s reality. This engages theology in considering all of reality, including human experience, society, history and cosmology. It considers all of this in relation to God. In doing so, theology is proleptic; it does not have the final word. ! Pannenberg sets out an exciting and challenging view of theology and there is a great deal to learn from him. I am not convinced by all his views and I am highly critical of some, yet I have always found that I because his approach is so careful and coherent then criticising him is not easy. Even in the process of disagreeing with him, especially in that process, there is much to learn. ! Wolfhart Pannenberg was convinced the end of human life and the end of history is an entry into God’s future, established in the resurrection of Jesus. He has now entered that future and he knows in full that about which he could only speak and write in part. We can be thankful that he stands as a witness to the fact that God will be known and is known now in the resurrection of Jesus. ! ! A selection of Pannenberg’s works “Dogmatic Theses on the Doctrine of Revelation”. In Revelation and History, edited by W. Pannenberg, translated by D. Granskou, 123-58. London: Macmillan; 1968. “Can Christianity do without an eschatology?”. In The Christian Hope edited by G. B. Caird et al, 25-34. London: SPCK; 1970. Theology and the Philosophy of Science. Translated by F. McDonagh. London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1976. Jesus - God and Man. Translated by L. L. Wilkins and D. A. Priebe. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1977, 2nd English edition. Metaphysics and the Idea of God. Translated by Philip Clayton. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; 1990. An Introduction to Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; 1991. Systematic Theology. Translated by Geoffrey Bromiley, 3 Volumes. Grand Rapids/ Edinburgh: Eerdmans/ T&T Clark, 1991, 1994, 1997. “An Intellectual Pilgrimage”. Dialog 45, no. 2 (2006): 184-91. ! Writing about Pannenberg T. Bradshaw, “The trinitarian theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg: the divine future perfect”, 125-213, in Philip Duce and Daniel Strange (eds). Getting Your Bearings: Engaging with Contemporary Theologians Leicester: Apollos, 2003. S.J. Grenz, Reason for Hope : The Systematic Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005. C. E. Gutenson Reconsidering the Doctrine of God New York ; London: T. & T. Clark, 2005, 201-31. J. A. McClean, From the Future: getting to grips with Pannenberg’s thought Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2013. G. W. McCulloh, “Creation to Consummation: the theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg” Anglican Theological Review 83/1 (Winter 2001): 115-28. C. Mostert, God and the Future Edinburgh/London/New York: T&T Clark/Continuum, 2002. T.J. Oord, “Future Perfect: A conversation with Wolfhart Pannenberg” Books & Culture (2001) cited from www.ctlibrary.com/455 . I. Taylor, Pannenberg on the Triune God London/New York: T & T Clark, 2007. !