FRIEDENSAU ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY

Jürgen Moltmanns Contribution tothe Adventist Understanding of

the Sabbath

For the Module 07 Issues in Contemporary Sabbath Theology

Submitted by

Dejan StanjevićJanuary 2014

Table of Contents

Introduction.......................................................1

Moltmanns Theological Framework..................................2

Moltmanns Hermeneutics............................................4

Moltmanns “Queen” Sabbath.........................................6

God’s rest........................................................7

God’s redemption.................................................8

Gods Sabbath ethics..............................................9

God’s ‘oikos’....................................................9

Moltmann in Dialogue with Adventists............................10

Precautions......................................................11

Adventists and praxis...........................................12

Adventists and rest.............................................12

Adventists and redemption......................................13

Adventists and ecology..........................................13

Conclusion........................................................14

Bibliography......................................................15

Introduction

Although Adventism distinguishes itself from the other

Christian denominations by its several fundamental doctrines,

such as the Sabbath, it is not the only one that does the

thinking about them. Jürgen Moltmann is one of the rare

contemporary theologians who wrote and spoke about the

importance of the Sabbath. His books deploy particular insights

on the Sabbath which deserve to be evaluated from the Adventist

perspective.

Since Moltmann is a contemporary theologian, a few word

needs to be said about his theological framework and his

hermeneutics, in order to give a proper perspective from which

Moltmann observes the Sabbath. Later, we will get acquainted

with Moltmanns key insights on the issue of the Sabbath.

From that follows a dialogue with an Adventist perspective

and evaluation of Moltmanns work on the Sabbath. We will

conclude with the main imperatives which spring from the

Moltmanns Sabbath and from which Adventist can or cannot learn.

1

Moltmanns Theological Framework

Second World War and with it a major failure of German

culture, gave birth to the one of the most prominent protestant

theologian of 21.st. and even today, Jürgen Moltmann. His first

three major works1, guided by the “holy” frustration with the

discrepancy between Christian faith and praxis, can be read as

complementary perspectives in a single theological vision,

namely eschatological orientation of the whole of theology. His

second series2 are studies of particular Christian doctrines

where Moltmann contributes to theological discussion.

There are a couple of dominant methodological principles

which pervade his work in general. Moltmanns formative years in

theology were influenced by tremendous human suffering during

and after WWII and a lack of almost any theological involvement

1 Theology of Hope (1964), The Crucified God (1972) and The Church in the Power of the Spirit (1975)

2 The Trinity and the Kingdom of God (1980), God in Creation (1985), The Way of Jesus Christ (1989), The Spirit of Life (1991), The Coming of God (1996) and Experiences in Theology (2000).

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with public and political issues. Therefore his theology became

“public theology”3 where it shared common concern and dialogue

about the world. The result and a goal were “a theory of

practice” and a productive relationship of church mission with

the world. Bauckham would say that Moltmanns greatest

achievement in the earlier works was relating biblical faith to

the modern world.4

Moltmanns theological ideas were based, among biblical

basis5 and Christological center,6 upon many different

theologians most importantly Ernst Bloch and his philosophy of

(The Principle of Hope, 1954).7 Thus, he became a political 3 Bauckham Richard, "Jürgen Moltmann," in The Modern Theologians, ed. Ford DavidF. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2005), PG 149-50.

4 Bauckham Richard, "Jürgen Moltmann," PG 161.

5 His biblical foundation laid upon scholars von Rad an Kaseman.

6 This is his dialectical interpretation of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. Subsumed with particular form of trinitarianistic view of relationshipbetween God and world, Moltmann argued that these two accounts represent opposites: death and life, the absence of God and the presence of God. By raising crucified Jesus to new life, God created continuity in discontinuity.See also Macek Petr, "The Doctrine of Creation in the Messianic Theology of Jürgen Moltmann," Communio Viatorum XLIX, no. 2 (2007): PG 155.

7 Moltmann also seriously studied Bonheoffer (and Barth for this matter) from whom he developed his concern for social ethics and the church’s involvement in secular society (Marxism also, see Otto Randall E., "God and History in Jürgen Moltmann," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 35, no. 3 (1992): PG 383.). But Bloch’s principle of hope, Moltmann used in his theology to emphasize its role in revolutionizing and transforming the present. For Bloch, anticipation is the act of the political visionary who has a sense of what is possible, and allows this sense to transform his imagination and his practice. Moltmann learns from this that Christian „messianic“ hope can have meaningful existence only when reality itself is in a state of historic flux (see Adams Nicholas, "Jürgen Moltmann," in The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology, ed. Scott Peter and Cavanaugh William T. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), PG 229.). Hope in the „future of Christ“ is necessarily a

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theologian8 with an emphasis on particular doctrines such as

hope,9 cross, pneumatology, ecclesiology, creation, Trinity and

eschatology. The latter became his most important idea in

thinking theologically.10 Eschatological, for Moltmann, became “a

counter-movement which does not develop out of this present,

transient reality, but contradicts the evil, suffering and

transience of the world as it is, transforming it by bringing it

out of the nothingness to which it tends into the eternal life

of indwelling".11 The result was a “relevant” theology

assimilated not with the interests of the bourgeois but poor,

marginalized and victims of injustice. Poverty, racism, the

environment, life’s meaninglessness, economic exploitation

became his favorites. Moltmann raised his voice for political,

economic, cultural and environmental justice.

It is worth to emphasize for the sake of this essay

Moltmanns overall eschatological cornerstone of his theology.

contradiction of the sinful world in which Christian lives, and not only thatbut this hope, born in the faith in the resurrected Christ, has power to transform the present. See also McDougall Joy Ann, Pilgrimage of Love (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), PG 17.

8 Political here means engaged in a dialogue between theory and praxis, churchand world. See also Adams Nicholas, "Jürgen Moltmann," PG 227.

9 „But if the Christian hope is reduced to the salvation of the soul in aheaven beyond death, it loses its power to renew life and change the world,and its flame is quenched; it dies away into no more than a gnostic yearningfor redemption from this world's vale of tears.“ Moltmann Jürgen, The Coming ofGod (London: SCM Press, 1996), PG xv.

10 Eschatology for Moltmann is a pervading idea in constructing theology not an aspect of it. It is not a branch of Christian doctrine but fundamental to theology as a whole. See also Gilbertson Michael, God and History in the Book of Revelation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), PG 16.

11 McDougall Joy Ann, Pilgrimage of Love, PG 112.4

Christianity is wholly and entirely eschatology, not just in an

appendix.12 In other words, eschatology is not ‘the end’ but

creation of all things. For Moltmann, eschatology, if taken as

something to hope for in the future, will rob us of our freedom

among history’s many possibilities, and our tolerance for all

the things in history that are unfinished and provisional. Life

is destroyed by this view and the person who presses forward to

the end of life misses life itself.13 Here, Moltmann differs with

Barth and Bultmann in their vertical and transcendental accounts

of eschatology. Therefore, eschatology is above all a

transforming and liberating vision of cosmic and individual

renewal and fulfillment.14 Bauckham comments that this

orientation of biblical faith as Moltmann puts it requires the

church to engage with the possibilities for change in the modern

world. Christian eschatology is therefore the hope that the

world will be different and will have effect in the present. The

world is transformable but the ultimate goal and culminating

point of eschatology is God’s Sabbath and Gods eschatological

Shekinah15, in which the whole creation will be new and eternally

living.16 These two motives represent God’s eschatological

presence or indwelling in ‘the new heaven and the new earth’.

Before we turn to the first motive and discuss it in the context

12 Moltmann Jürgen, The Coming of God, PG xii.

13 Moltmann Jürgen, The Coming of God, PG x.

14 Chester Andrew, "Eschatology," in The Blackwell Companion to Modern Theology, ed. Jones Gareth (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), PG 256.

15 For a detail discussion about the two motives; the Sabbath and Shekinahlook into Moltmann Jürgen, The Coming of God, PG 261-67.

16 Moltmann Jürgen, The Coming of God, PG xiii.5

of Adventism, which is the goal of this essay, we need to say

something about Moltmanns hermeneutics.

Moltmanns Hermeneutics

Although Moltmann has a solid biblical background in his

theology which made him one of the most influential theologians

even today, Moltmann escapes fundamentalism in context of

biblical authority. He says that it fossilizes the Bible into an

unquestionable authority.17 Bauckham calls Moltmann remarkably

ignorant and incompetent in exegesis.18 ”Moltmann ignores

historical-critical interpretation and leaves his hermeneutical

principles dangerously unclear”, continues Bauckham.19 The

response was quite logical in God all in all, where Moltmann wrote

that “Theology is not subject to the dictation of the texts, or

the same dictatorship of the exegetes”.20 In other words, he

theologically reflects on the text and it serves him as a

stimulus to his own theological thinking, not as an

authoritative blueprint and confining boundary.21 Moltmann is “a

friend of the texts”22 who sums up the hope in a long process of17 Brown Kevin, "Moltmann's Use of the Bible," <http://diglotting.com/2013/01/28/moltmanns-use-of-the-bible/>, 28/01 2013.

18 Moltmann Jürgen, "The Bible, the Exegete and the Theologian," in God Will Be All In All, ed. Bauckham (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999), PG 179-80.

19 Bauckham Richard, "Jürgen Moltmann," PG 161.

20 Moltmann Jürgen, "The Bible, the Exegete and the Theologian," PG 230-31.

21 Moltmann Jürgen, Experiences in Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000), PG xxii.

22 Goroncy Jason, "On Bauckham’s Criticism of Moltmann’s Exegetical Method," <http://jasongoroncy.com/2008/05/17/on-bauckhams-criticism-of-moltmanns-exegetical-method/>, 17/05 2008.

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reflection by Israel’s faith.23 He offers lucid, transforming

narrative in context of epistemological skepticism.

Since the Sabbath is connected with highly debated Genesis

account of creation, its worth to notice Moltmanns review of the

theory of evolution. Natural science, for Moltmann does not

determine the structure of theological work but it should be

integrated in the theological concern. Nevertheless, theology

must relate to scientific theories and particular findings of

natural sciences.24 Consequently theology must start again from

the early attempts at a synthesis, if it is to comprehend

creation and God's activity in the world in a new way, in the

framework of today's knowledge about nature and evolution, and

if it is to make the world as creation - and its history as

God's activity - comprehensible to scientific reason also. If

this is to be our purpose, we must first of all be critical, and

must get rid of the bias and narrowness which have taken root in

the Christian doctrine of creation in the wake of the polemic

against the theory of evolution.25 Therefore, Moltmann does not

believe that Biblical accounts were handed down once and for

all. They are open for revision and innovation as the result of

new experiences. Evolution has its place where theology talks

about continuous creation26 but creation is Gods permanent

23 Moltmann Jürgen, God in Creation (London: SCM Press, 1985), 72.

24 Macek Petr, "The Doctrine of Creation in the Messianic Theology of Jürgen Moltmann," PG 176.

25 Moltmann Jürgen, God in Creation, 192.

26 Moltmann distinguishes between creatio originialis, creatio continua and creatio nova. Theultimate meaning of all history is to be found in the new „consummated creation“, Macek Petr, "The Doctrine of Creation in the Messianic Theology of

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activity of guiding the history toward its final goal. History

is open to the future. Creation is not yet finished27 it is

building on.28

As we can see and Otto Randall noticed, stories are always

more important than facts. Scripture can be normative as

imagination, fiction and yet be the Word of God. What really

happened is open to theological reflection but traditions and

experiences Israel had are symbolic and mythical.29

Moltmanns “Queen” Sabbath

Moltmanns thinking about the Sabbath derives in general from

his appreciation of Jewish theology and especially Franz

Rosenzweig.30 On the one hand, in a discussion on time and

eternity31 Moltmann rejected the modern myth of the linear and

the quantitative quality of time. His arguments were that

quantity of calendar time contradicts the qualitative difference

of past and future which is essential to Christian faith’s own

messianic understanding of time. If time is linear it’s deistic,

Jürgen Moltmann," PG 159.

27 Peacocke Arthur, Creation and the World of Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), PG 337-38.

28 McDougall Joy Ann, Pilgrimage of Love, PG 111.

29 Otto Randall E., "God and History in Jürgen Moltmann," PG 378.

30 It could be noted that Moltmann also often quotes Abraham Joshua Heschel and his The Sabbath. Its Meaning for Modern Man, New York 1981. Some Adventist authorsare also mentioned, such as Samuele Bacchiocchi and N.E. Andreasen.

31 Bauckham Richard, "Time and Eternity," in God Will Be All In All, ed. Bauckham Richard (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999), PG 158-73.

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but for Moltmann Gods future is the source from which time

springs. Time is open to the future, rather than determined by

the past. The best example of the openness of each moment to the

future is the Sabbath. On the Sabbath the redemption of the

world is celebrated in anticipation. The Sabbath is itself the

presence of eternity in time, and a foretaste of the world to

come.32 It is rhythmic interruption which points the

eschatological Sabbath of God’s rest in his creation in

eternity. The Sabbath is both the goal and the end of history.

Creation exists for its future and the present age is

preparation of the final eternal Sabbath.

On the other hand, Moltmann has a distinctive aspect of the

doctrine of creation, namely its messianic character.33 It is a

kind of messianic intermezzo, a ‘sacrament of time’.34 The

biblical account of creation testifies of the Sabbath as “the

feast of creation.” As Moltmann says, creation does not end with

the six active days of creation but it’s crowned with the

Sabbath (not in the creation of humankind) when God rested and

rejoiced in his creation. Since God dwelled in his creation, the

Sabbath became a foretaste of the kingdom of glory in which

God’s people will enjoy their permanent dwelling in God’s midst.

From these two perspectives, Moltmann continues to develop his

‘sabbatical doctrine of creation’35.

32 Moltmann Jürgen, God in Creation, 276.

33 McDougall Joy Ann, Pilgrimage of Love, PG 110-11.

34 Moltmann Jürgen, The Way of Jesus Christ (London: SCM Press, 1990), PG 27.

35 For Moltmann the Sabbath is the true hallmark of every biblical – Jewishand Christian – doctrine of creation Moltmann Jürgen, God in Creation, PG 5-7.

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God’s rest

God’s completion of creation consists in God’s rest. By this

rest, God consummated and blessed his creation. In that way, God

made himself receptive for the experience of his creatures. On

the Sabbath God ‘feels’ the world and allows him to exist in his

presence and he is present in their existence.36 This immanence

in creation is the resting God who gives a foretaste of a dream

of completion, the eternal feast of the divine glory. So, the

Sabbath is not a day of creation it is the Lords day. God is

through his Spirit present in his creation and one day the whole

creation will be the house of God.

Anthropocentrism is replaced by a new cosmological Theo

centrism, Moltmann will say.37 That means that the more human

beings discover the meaning of their lives in joy in existence,

instead of in doing and achieving, the better they will be. If

not, history will be the self-destruction of humanity.

Therefore, we need to understand the world with proper

discernment of the Sabbath. We are identified by our work and

activity just as God is through the creation week but He also

rested and showed us that we need peace, and that peace can be

found in His presence because peace with God comes in the first

place. Gods rest becomes a delineator of our identity, potential

36 The Sabbath is a representative of Gods participative listening of ourexultation and our laments. He feels our impulses and movements MoltmannJürgen, "Sabbath: Finishing and Beginning," The Living Pulpit April-June 1998: PG4. .

37 Moltmann Jürgen, God in Creation, 139.10

and purpose; in it we find our ‘dwelling’. Not only that, the

Sabbath rest is a limit to human work for the sake of nature and

for the healing of body and soul.38 As Moltmann says, “We could

probably do without many meditation techniques and tranquilizers

if we remembered the Sabbath”.39 To sanctify the Sabbath means

being entirely free form the striving for happiness and from the

will for performance and achievement. The Sabbath is a witness

of inner liberty from the world’s tyranny of addictions.

God’s redemption

Since the Sabbath is a consummation of creation it also

represents creation’s redemption.40 The Sabbath conceals an

unheard promise for the future41 and in that way it becomes a

herald of future redemption (Hebrews ch.4).42 The Sabbath is both

a day of remembrance of the original creation and a day of hope

38 Moltmann Jürgen, "The Bible, the Exegete and the Theologian," PG 77-78.

39 Moltmann Jürgen, "Sabbath: Finishing and Beginning," PG 4.

40 For Moltmann, creation should be interpreted in the light of redemption. Strand supports this view in Strand Kenneth A., "The Sabbath," in Handbook of Seventh-Day Adventist Theology, ed. Dederen Raoul (Hagerstown: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2000), PG506-507., where he writes about the Sabbath as a sign of redemption.

41 Moltmann Jürgen, God in Creation, 288.

42 Interestingly, Moltmann argues that six creation days have time intervalsof days and nights, but the Sabbath of the world in Gen.2:1-4 differs fromall of them and it does not have an evening. Gods Sabbath knows no night butis feast without end. The Sabbath points beyond itself to that new eternalcreation, in which 'the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb'Moltmann Jürgen, The Way of Jesus Christ, PG 327. He also stresses the fact thatGod created everything in dualities, only the Sabbath is in the singular. Sothe Sabbath awaits her partner – Gods final Shekinah Moltmann Jürgen, TheComing of God, PG 283.

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in our final salvation.43 If properly observed, the Sabbath will

prepare the believer for the messiah’s coming because in the

midst of the apocalyptic of catastrophe, and the wild messianism

of revolutionary utopianism, the Sabbath is a lasting

messianism. It brings the dream of redemption into the

unnoticeable ordinariness of life as it is lived.44 Redemption

is, of course, return to the primordial conditions between human

beings and between human beings and nature. It is Lords Shekinah

in its fullest. Thus, every Sabbath is a sacred anticipation of

the world’s redemption. That is why Jesus started his public

ministry with the proclamation of the messianic Sabbath (Luke

4:18). He proclaimed the messianic fulfillment of the Israelite

‘dream of completion’.45

Gods Sabbath ethics

The Sabbath, although takes ground from under any

anthropocentric understanding of salvation, gives the Christian43 Moltmann Jürgen, "Sabbath: Finishing and Beginning," PG 5.

44 Moltmann Jürgen, The Way of Jesus Christ, PG 27.

45 Moltmann, in line with his hermeneutics, affirms that Jesus did not come toabolish but to fulfill the Sabbath. He even says that an attempt to replacethe Sabbath with Sunday would be wrong, both historically and theologically.See Moltmann Jürgen, The Way of Jesus Christ, PG 27, Moltmann Jürgen, God in Creation,294. and Moltmann Jürgen, The Way of Jesus Christ, PG 254. Nevertheless, becauseSunday, or 'the eight day' is a Christian celebration of the resurrection asa memorial of new creation, or the authentic Christian feast of theresurrection, it seem logical to observe Sunday with a 'Sabbath stillness'.Moltmanns theological premises do not bother with the questions posed by the'tyranny of dogmatic and exegetes'. He bothers with the liberating idea offuture redemption and its transforming influence on today. Therefore, 'theeight day' seems to be the perfect representative of this everydaypossibility of new life in the power of the resurrected Christ.

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image of human beings an special stamp. All systems of life are

seen as open and intensively related. Moltmann rejects social

Darwinism46 and the ‘survival of the fittest. The Fourth

commandment is the most important because it gives a redemptive

perspective at the creation. Therefore, the Sabbath is an order

of peace for everyone. It is impossible to celebrate and enjoy

it at the cost of other people. The feast can only be celebrated

and enjoyed together with all the others.47

God’s ‘oikos’

Moltmanns theology of creation could be also called

ecological doctrine. Aware of current and possible future

crisis, Moltmann says that there is a lot of ecological thinking

which we have to learn.48 This way of understanding of the

creation can be called ‘the doctrine of the house’ (Greek; ).

God dwells in his creation as a whole the Sabbath point to this

Presence in the most profound way. The true wisdom of creation

is to understand the Gods rest on the Sabbath. The idea is not

only that we human beings come to rest in body and soul, finding

peace in God, but also stop intervening in nature on this day,

to stop hurting it. Thus, Moltmann goes to the extreme saying

that the true meaning of the Sabbath is ecological. The Sabbath

is wise environmental policy.49 46 Muller-Fahrenholz Geiko, The Kingdom and the Power (London: SCM Press, 2000), PG 158.

47 Moltmann Jürgen, God in Creation, 285.

48 Moltmann Jürgen, God in Creation, PG xii-xiii.

49 Moltmann Jürgen, "Sabbath: Finishing and Beginning," PG 5.13

This ‘divine ecology’ is an ancient Jewish wisdom, the

Sabbath and the creation as a home of God. By collecting

biblical data which speak about Israel’s Sabbaths50, Moltmann

points in the midst of petrifying ecological crisis51 that God

will punish the disobedient, those who desolate the earth. The

social concern is opened to the concern for the earth52.

Moltmanns concern goes so far that he speaks about the principle

of fallowing, industrialization of farming and the use of

chemical fertilizers, monocultures and artificial fertilizers

and progressive poisoning of the soil. The result, he says, will

also be similar to the experience of ancient Israel.53 The

Sabbath laws are, according to the Bible, God’s ecological

strategy to preserve the life which God created. We need to be

in harmony with the nature. We need to leave our cars on the

Sabbath home.

As already mentioned, Moltmann has an unquenchable thirst to

make theology practical. His theological ideas based upon Jewish

tradition and his eschatological-redemptive interpretation of

the creation account and history in general, led him to the

exploration of the much neglected theme of the Sabbath in the

contemporary protestant theology. Thinking as a ‘political 50 Ex.23:10-11; Lev.25:1-7; chap.26. Moltmann Jürgen, "The Bible, the Exegeteand the Theologian," PG 113-15., and Moltmann Jürgen, The Way of Jesus Christ, PG310-11.

51 Not only that, Moltmann stresses that nihilism led the way in our dealingswith nature. It was evoked by the unnatural will to power, and the inhumanestruggle for domination on earth Moltmann Jürgen, God in Creation, PG xi.

52 This is the ecological interpretation of Israel’s exile in Babylon.

53 Moltmann Jürgen, "Reconciliation with Nature," Word & World XI, no. 2 (Spring 1991): PG 122-23.

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theologian’ in a midst of disappointing ‘earth management’, he

developed many theological and practical insights in his

understanding of the Sabbath. Although he escapes historicism

and exegesis he gives a biblical, relevant and fresh perspective

on the Sabbath and its importance for the everyday problems

individual faces today. He masterfully balances between science

and the Bible in order to offer a non-dogmatic and to avoid

stiff literal interpretation, between exegesis and theological

imagination without losing foundation in the system he created

and which brought so many important practical suggestions.

Moltmann is challenging but he inspires hope and relevance. He

makes the Sabbath of value.

Moltmann in Dialogue with Adventists

Can we as Adventists benefit from Moltmanns understanding of

the Sabbath as our former GC president Jan Paulsen did from his

theology54, or should we ban Moltmann because of his ‘secular’

eschatology from which springs his neglect of historicist

interpretation of the Bible, as some think?55 Is Moltmanns

Sabbath in some way a mirror for revision of our own doctrine,

54 Jan Paulsen was Moltmanns former student. In his article in Adventist World, Paulsen gives four main points upon which Adventism should build its future mission. Paulsen writes about theology of connection, hope, human dignity and wholeness, thus making the theology just as Moltmann did, very much practical Paulsen Jan, "Christ’s Healing in a Changing World," Adventist World, no. September (September 2009).

55 One of the authors at the official SDA web site in Croatia branded Moltmanns eschatology as 'secular' Bistrovic Branko, "Live Hope in Christs Return," <http://adventisti.hr/ziva-nada-u-kristov-dolazak/>, 03/07 2013.

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or a vital completion of our own historicist understanding of

the Sabbath? Can he preach the Sabbath to us?

It is relatively hard to encompass all the written Sabbath

theology in Adventist theological literature. Some prominent and

representative literature exists but it seems impossible to say

that Moltmann is in some way unique in his understanding of the

Sabbath. Adventists have truly made an exemplary job of

extracting the core beliefs and values from the biblical account

of creation and the Sabbath. The best way to see that is to

study the authors such as Samuele Bacchiochi, Neils-Erik

Andreasen, Kenneth A. Strand and just recently Sigve Tonstad.

But before we point to the main practical implications of

Moltmanns ideas we need to say something from which Adventism

cannot learn.

Precautions

Moltmann certainly poses a big challenge for every

traditional Adventist theologian. His proleptic eschatology

escapes biblical exegesis, the basis of the Adventist

historicist theology. Angel Manuel Rodriguez reflected on a

similar topic where he underlined that the dialogue and

integration of science and theology is a ‘launching platform’

which is foreign to Adventism and ends in scientific pantheism

(for Moltmann it is panentheism where he avoids the arbitrary

concept of creation held by traditional theism). Adventists are

childlike, says Rodriguez. Their platform is the divine

perspective, God’s revelation in Scripture. This childlikeness 16

is not an orphan manufactured but has strong biblical arguments

and offers the only certainty there is – God’s authoritative

revelation.56 Fernando Canale comes in line with this thinking

writing that there are “radical differences that exist between

these two ‘eschatological’ theologies to the hermeneutical

principle of reality from which they flow”.57 This explains why

Adventism cannot look for ‘an apologetic and doctrinal friend’

in Moltmann. Nevertheless, Moltmann insight in the practical

values of the Sabbath is clear and utterly beneficial.

Adventists and praxis

In his 15th chapter of his book, If I Were the Devil, George Knight

clearly underlines and quotes Moltmann where he says that “for

Christian faith to bring about its own decay by withdrawal in

the ghetto without self-criticism is a parallel to its decay

through uncritical assimilation”.58 In other words the Adventist

doctrine of the Sabbath has to be practical; otherwise it will

lose its integrity and value. Ghettoization of the Sabbath in

the context of apologetic defense against particular church

teaching, or secular degrading of the Lords day, will lead to

the overlooking important practical and crucial Sabbath values

for modern man. We could paraphrase John 5:39 and say that

Adventism found in the Sabbath Gods revealed will but partially

56 Rodriguez Angel M., "An Orphan in the Cosmos? An Adventist Reflection on the Creation-Evolution Debate," Biblical Research Institute, <https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/pt-br/node/397>, 2003.

57 Canale Fernando, "From Vision to System: Finishing the Task of Adventist Theology," Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, no. 17/2 (2006): PG.

58 Knight George, If I Were the Devil (Hagerstown: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2007), PG.

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failed to find His resting and peacemaking Presence. The Remnant

chose do differentiate itself by its eschatological and

apocalyptical depictions of the last-day, commandment keeping

flock, and not by the liberating experience of God’s presence in

the life of individual of which the Sabbath is the memorial.

Adventists are wise enough to rightly balance this postmodern

thirst for spiritual experience and biblical foundation which

defines and justifies it.

Adventists and rest

In his desperate quest to make theology important Moltmann

refreshed the Sabbath into a monument of Gods promises and

potential to change the present. As much as Moltmann laments

about the redemptive-messianic aspect of the Sabbath, he also

makes it relevant in the life of modern man. By joining resting

God, and by coming into his presence believer can restore his

body and soul and gaze upon the final rest in God’s kingdom. It

is a poor failure not to use Moltmanns idea of the final rest in

God’s presence in Hebrews 4. Why are we so apologetic and not in

the same manner practical? Why do we prove our correctness of NT

teaching on the Sabbath with the text that shows an eternal

value of the Sabbath, and the most important thing that is woven

in the Sabbath, namely, God’s refreshing and promising

presence?59 On the other hand, is rest truly a rest in God’s

presence on the Sabbath day for every believer? Is our unwritten

mandate to be apologetic wherever we can, depriving us of an

59 Strand Kenneth A., "The Sabbath," PG.18

experience so deep, liberating and needed today? Among all other

blessings that we preach and talk about, Moltmann has his point

in emphasizing the Blessing; ‘the presence of God’ in the

Sabbath. Out of this blessing all other emerge. The question

remains, how can we experience this Presence more fully?

Adventists and redemption

Moltmanns redemptive eschatology and its monument (reminder)

in time is the Sabbath. Interestingly, Moltmann says little

about Deuteronomy and its report on Commandments. Our Adventist

teaching on the redemptive teaching of the Sabbath leans more to

Deuteronomy rather than to the ‘future eternal Sabbath’ as a

realized and complete redemption. Moltmann brings future into

the presence, and the Sabbath should be a foretaste and not just

a symbol of future redemption.

Adventists and ecology

Why is the Adventist understanding of ecological

implications of the sabbatical rest of the earth given in Mosses

law so carefully avoided? Why is so that even when Adventists

speak about ecology it sounds so sterile and maybe even

deliberately incomplete? Of course, if we add some sarcasm to

it, it would be strange to observe the Sabbath year of earths

rest, not to use fertilizers and chemical additives and so on.

Moltmann is here strong and concrete, just as we Adventist are

in historicist apologetics; he practically shows and demands an

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expected behavior from Christian believer. Believer is to do

that no matter how much it costs. It is quite understandable to

hear that from Moltmann, because he saw with his own eyes the

devastating consequences of western ‘civilization’ not only in

war but in continuing exploitation and extermination of what was

given to govern to the first man. The Sabbath is not just for

contemplating natural environment that God has provides us.

Neils-Erik Andreasen profoundly point to the relevancy of the

Sabbath to the ‘earth management’.60 It looks like that Moltmann

found solution for the world’s ecological crisis not just in

reading Jewish tradition but in reading Adventist authors61.

Conclusion

Moltmann deserves a special place in the Adventist theology

as somebody who can contribute with his view of dialectic

eschatology, namely the practical imperative which derives from

it. There is power of the risen Christ to change the complete

opposite, the devastated man and its environment. This emphasize

contributes to a shortage of the Adventist official, practical,

doctrinal expression. This can be applied to the Adventist

teaching of the Sabbath also.

60 Andreasen Neils-Erik, "The Sabbath Rest for the Whole Earth," Adventist Review29/08 1996: PG.

61 It is also good to mention a few more recent literary contributions to the issue of Adventism and ecology (and the Sabbath) such as Jo Ann Davidson in The Word of God for the People of God, (Hagerstown: Review and Herald Publishing), 2010.,Samuele Bacchiochi in his Divine Rest for Human Restlessness, (Rome: The Pontifical Gregorian Uiversity Press), 1980., Sigve Tonstad in his The Lost Meaning of the Sevent Day, (Berrien Springs: Andrews University Press), 2009., and others.

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Adventist Sabbath needs to be more officially concrete, more

prescribed and more focused on experiential basis in order to

cover its full meaning and value. Moltmann has this contagious

urge for making theology practical. We should inherit this. Our

apologetic does not need to be afraid of that.

Moltmanns emphasize of the importance of the Sabbath is new

and refreshing in the protestant theology. We should take

advantage of this opportunity and in our, and other, theological

circles try to be more relevant by seeking and preaching

practical advantages of the Sabbath over the apologetic urge to

proselytize other Christian groups or defend ourselves from

‘infidels’.

Moltmanns refreshing and elevating imagination of the

creation account opens our eyes to the Gods presence. The

Sabbath as its representative needs to be more fully explored in

this aspect from an Adventist perspective. Moltmanns redemptive

taste of the Sabbath echoes future complete redemption that is

soon coming. Maybe not as we read in the Bible, ‘on the clouds

of heaven’, but today, in present, yes. Next, his ecological

imperative reminds us of our already discovered Sabbath values

and brings them on the surface again. Through this interaction

Adventism can be distinguished again.

Sometimes God speaks to us through voices that we do not

want hear such as the contemporary theology. But, for the price

of being relevant and self-critique, we need to step on the thin

ice of the other ‘launching platform’ just to be reminded of the

values that we once preached and also gain some fresh

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perspective in a living progressive Word of God. Moltmann and

his Sabbath is a good opportunity for that.

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