Hello SVS friends,
I've been reading the comments about Moltmann and would like to add something. First, I wrote my dissertation on him and Maximus the Confessor (their trinitarian-christocentric visions of the human calling in the world). Some scholars see many parallels between Moltmann and Hans Urs von Balthasar. In that vein, Moltmann has critically engaged Orthodox theology in remarkable ways, opening up new vistas for Protestant ressourcement theology. Second, the Volf-Moltmann link is indeed key. Volf's theological vision, as he freely says, has been marked by Moltmann from his first monograph on. He is training, as you know, many systematic theologians (directly at Yale and indirectly through his writings and lectures). Thus, the influence of Moltmann extends through Volf, and many others who have studied his work. Yes, there are weaknesses in Moltmann's theology, as with all. But he has engaged more theological traditions, ideas, and movements than most Protestant theologians: Catholic, Orthodox, Feminist, Cone's Black Theology, Asian, Latino/a Theology, religion and science dialogue, ecology, atheism, etc. He even pioneered political theology. Like Balthasar, his is a truly "cosmic theology." For Moltmann, theology is "an adventure," not a system. Some fault him for this (i.e. his method), but others find it refreshing and prescient of post-modern eclecticism and anti-systematization. My review of his autobiography touches on these things: https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-1548768381/a-broad-place-an-autobiography. I look forward to the discussions in a few weeks! BB
