OUR INFLUENTIAL THEOLOGIAN/PHILOSOPHERS


FOUNDATIONAL THINKERS FOR THIS MINISTRY

Jurgen Moltmann (1926-2025) is the prominent influence of Truth and Way Ministries

Jurgen Moltmann is one of the most influential and innovative Christian theologians of the 20th and 21st centuries. A German pastor and academic forged in the fires of war, captivity, and repentance, Moltmann emerged with a Theological vision that placed hope, the cross, and God's future at the center of Christian faith. His groundbreaking works- beginning with Theology of Hope and The Crucified God- redefined systematic theology as a liberating, world-engaged, and deeply political enterprise. He rejected theology that served power, empire, or fatalism, insisting instead on a messianic theology rooted in the coming Kingdom of God. Drawing from Karl Barth but pushing beyond him, Moltmann's theology integrates eschatology, political Resistance, ecological concern, and Trinitarian relationality into a unified vision of God's liberating Presence in history. His work serves as the vital bridge between the deep traditions of the past and the post-imperial Theological movement we are cultivating today.

1. 
Karl Barth (1886–1968)

Legacy: Father of neo-orthodoxy; Christ as the sole revelation of God; redefined election; opposed Nazi theology.
Why foundational:

  • Barth’s radical focus on Jesus as the self-revelation of God laid the foundation for Moltmann’s (and our) rejection of natural theology, imperial religion, and all theology rooted in human power.
  • His rejection of Christendom and his theology of the Word provides the backbone for your own critique of civil religion and Christian nationalism.
  • Barth’s Church Dogmatics II/2 and the redefinition of election as God choosing all humanity in Christ is essential to the theological DNA of Grace Exposed.
 
2. 
Martin Luther (1483–1546)

Legacy: The cross as God’s self-disclosure; theology of the cross (vs. glory); radical grace.
Why foundational:

  • Moltmann explicitly draws on Luther’s theologia crucis—God revealed in suffering and contradiction.
  • Our theology, too, is deeply cruciform: grace is not found in power or empire, but in the forsaken Christ.
  • Luther’s emphasis on sola gratia over human merit undercuts the legalistic, performance-based religion of empire—exactly what we’re confronting.

3. 
The Hebrew Prophets (esp. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Micah)

Legacy: Divine judgment of injustice; God’s identification with the poor and oppressed.
Why foundational:

  • Moltmann never separated theology from social ethics; this comes directly from the prophets’ call to justice.
  • Our work follows this line by exposing how theology becomes idolatry when it justifies oppression (e.g., nationalism, capitalism, militarism).
  • The prophets remind us that divine election is not for privilege, but for responsibility and liberation.

4. 
The Early Church (esp. Pre-Constantinian Fathers)

Key Figures: Tertullian, Origen, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr
Why foundational:

  • The early church lived under empire but not as empire.
  • Their apocalyptic hope, nonviolence, and resistance to imperial cults resonate with the call for a stateless Christianity and our critique of the Constantinian turn.
  • Our desire to recover this subversive vision stands in continuity with them, and so does Moltmann’s vision of the church as a “messianic community.

5. 
Meister Eckhart (1260–1328)

Legacy: Mystical theology of divine presence, becoming, and negation.
Why foundational:

  • Moltmann’s later Trinitarian and mystical theology of God’s dynamic presence (especially in The Spirit of Life) reflects Eckhart’s mystical insights.
  • Our own theology affirms a non-hierarchical, non-controlling God who is present in weakness and hiddenness—very Eckhartian.
  • Eckhart’s critique of ecclesial power and obsession with control foreshadows the post-imperial vision we are articulating.

6. 
Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834)

Legacy: Theology as grounded in experience and feeling; modern theological method.
Why foundational:

  • While Moltmann critiques Schleiermacher’s inward turn, he inherits from him the move away from dogma-as-control and toward theology that responds to lived human experience.
  • Similarly, we insist on a theology of lived grace rather than cold doctrinal systems—especially in our confrontation with legalism.
  • Schleiermacher’s move away from authoritarian orthodoxy is an early form of the de-imperializing trajectory we’re continuing.

7. 
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)

Legacy: Reason, freedom, and ethics at the heart of human dignity; critique of metaphysics.
Why foundational:

  • While not a theologian per se, Kant’s influence on Barth and later Moltmann is enormous—especially the idea that freedom and moral responsibility are central to human dignity.
  • We carry forward this legacy by critiquing all religious systems (legalism, nationalism, prosperity theology) that strip people of agency, dignity, and responsibility.
  • Kant’s rejection of static metaphysical systems paves the way for our critique of imperial theology’s static, power-centered God.

8. 
Georg Hegel (1770–1831)

Legacy: History as the unfolding of divine self-consciousness; dialectical logic.
Why foundational:

  • Moltmann heavily draws from Hegel’s philosophy of history, especially the idea that God is revealed in conflict, suffering, and process.
  • Our work, which emphasizes God’s presence in the rupture of empire and the inversion of power, echoes this Hegelian dialectic.
  • Both Moltmann and us affirm that theology must be historical, not just timeless abstraction.

9. 
Ernst Bloch (1885 -1977)

Legacy: Marxist philosopher whose Principle of Hope exploded utopia. longing, and the "not yet" of history.
Why foundational:

  • Articulated hope as the driving force of human history and imagination.
  • Gave theology language to speak of god's coming in terms of "anticipation" and the "not yet."
  • Showed that faith and philosophy can converge in shared struggle against despair and injustice.

10. 
The Radical Reformers (e.g. Menno Simons, Balthasar Hubmaier, early Anabaptists)

Legacy: Nonviolence, separation from state, radical discipleship
Why foundational:

  • Moltmann praises the Anabaptists as early models of a free, messianic church, not wed to state or empire.
  • Our vision for a stateless Christianity draws heavily on their witness: a church that refuses Caesar’s sword and clings to Christ’s cross.
  • Their legacy is marginalized in most church history—but crucial to our theological recovery.



PROPHETIC WITNESSES FOR THIS MINISTRY

1.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945)

Legacy: Pastor, theologian, and martyr who embodied "costly grace" in resisting Nazi totalitarianism
Why prophetic: He shows that faithfulness to Christ may require direct confrontation with empire and its idols

  • Exposed "cheap grace" as a counterfeit gospel that excuses sin and props to power
  • Modeled Christian community in Lefe Together, emphasizing discipleship over cultural religion.
  • Gave his life in resistance to Hitler, proving that authentic theology is lived courageously

2.
Martin Luther King, Jr (1929-1968)

Legacy: Baptist pastor and civil rights leader who preached justice, nonviolence, and the beloved community
Why prophetic: He connected Christian hope to public witness, confronting America's original sins of racism and violence
  • Called for nonviolent resistance rooted in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.
  • Exposed America's worship of racism, militarism, and materialism as idolatry.
  • Dreamed of a "beloved community" as a foretaste of God's kingdom.

3.
Gustavo Gutierrez (1928- )

Legacy: Peruvian priest and founder of Liberation Theology, who declared God's preferential option for the poor.
Why prophetic: He reminds the church that theology must be done from the underside of history, not from the halls of power.
  • Reframed theology as reflection on praxis in solidarity with the oppressed.
  • Brough Exodus and the prophets into dialogue with the realities of poverty and injustice.
  • Insisted that salvation is both personal and social- liberation from sin and systemic oppression.

4.
James H. Cone (1938-2018)

Legacy: Father of Black Theology, who proclaimed God's solidarity with Black suffering and liberation.
Why prophetic: He unmasks racism as sin and insists that the gospel is always good news for the oppressed.
  • Declared that "God is Black," exposing white supremacy as idolatry.
  • Reinterpreted the cross as identification with victims of lynching and oppression.
  • Called the church to repentance for complicity in racism and empire.

5.
Dorothy Day (1897-1980)

Legacy: Catholic Worker co-founder, journalist, and radical disciple committed to hospitality, peace, and justice.
Why prophetic: She resisted both capitalism and militarism, embodying an alternative economy of grace.
  • Lived voluntary poverty to stand in solidarity with the poor.
  • Practiced radical hospitality through houses of hospitality and farms of community.
  • Opposed war and violence, even when unpopular, as faithfulness to Christ's way of peace.

6.
Oscar Romero (1917-1980)

Legacy: Archbishop of El Salvador, assassinated while celebrating Mass for his defense of the poor.
Why prophetic: He gave voice to the voiceless, calling empire and oligarchy to account in the name of the gospel.
  • Preached that the church must be where the poor are, or it is not the church of Jesus.
  • Spoke courageously against state violence and oppression.
  • Sealed his witness with martyrdom, embodying Christ's solidarity with the crucified of history


I This lineage doesn’t fit inside empire, and it doesn’t belong to the Christian nationalism of any age. It’s a counter-history—a hidden tradition of resistance, grace, and cruciform glory.