Public lecture by Prof Jürgen Moltmann

Jürgen Moltmann was born on 8 April 1926 in Hamburg. He began studying theology as a prisoner of war in England (Norton Camp). Upon his return home in 1948, he continued his studies at Göttingen University, where he received his doctorate (Dr Theol) in 1952. In 1957 he was promoted to Dr Theol Habil and became a professor at the Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal in 1958. In 1963 he accepted a call to become chair of Systematic Theology and Social Ethics at the Protestant Faculty of the University of Bonn and in 1967 he became Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Tübingen, from which position he retired in 1994. He received the Italian literary prize, Premio letterario La Tora Isola d’Elba, in 1971; the Amos Comenius Medal at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1992; the Ernst Bloch Prize of the City of Ludwigshafen in 1995; and the Grawemeyer Award for Religion in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2000.

Prof Moltmann is described as ‘one of the most influential Christian thinkers’ of our time. Since the end of the Second World War, his life and work have had an extraordinary influence on the history of theology in Europe, North America, and even Africa and Asia. His theological works are taught, read or engaged with in almost all notable theological faculties and seminaries around the world. In both Protestant and Roman Catholic circles, there is not one contemporary theological textbook in Systematic Theology that does not give extensive attention to the theological contribution of Moltmann.

The degree Doctor Divinitatis (honoris causa) will be conferred on Prof Moltmann by the University of Pretoria at the Autumn Graduation Ceremony of the Faculty of Theology on 6 April at 15:00 in the Rembrandt Hall (LC de Villiers Sports Grounds).