Moltmann's Duality Of Life After Death

To further justify a bodily resurrection he points to Christian eschatology, which he argues gives humanity the hope that both soul and body will be resurrected. For Moltmann, the resurrection bears witness to the unity of the human rather than presenting a duality of the soul and body, with the soul being preeminent. The resurrection is vital to understanding the human being for Moltmann, who argues that it is a part of human life and does not represent the general view of a life after death. He makes this distinction to further show that it is the whole person that is resurrected. Instead of viewing the human living a “life after death,” the resurrection is part of the human life itself, which gives humanity a hope after death. Moltmann …show more content…
In the Coming of God, he describes the relationship that exists between God and human beings as a “relatedness.” By creating his image on earth, the Creator puts himself in a particular relationship to this being. Therefore, Moltmann’s definition of the imago Dei is primarily concerns this relationship. This “relatedness” is ontological because it describes the being of humanity and the immortality of this relation that is characteristic of the human being. This immortality exists because humans are designated to be God’s image, which is an identifying characteristic that cannot be removed from humanity. For Moltmann, neither sin nor death can remove this designation from the human. He argues that the only way for humanity to cease being God’s image is if God chose to destroy humanity. Similarly, he argues that the relation humans share with God in “sonship or daughterhood” is an immortal relationship. This means this relationship is never ending, even in death, because humans have the promise of the resurrection to …show more content…
For Moltmann, the human as the image of God in the earth has a specific relationship to other human beings. This relationship consists of acting on behalf of others so that they can experience hope and life. Thus, in Moltmann’s theology, the imago Dei takes on a liberating character, as it is influenced by his political and liberation theologies. The human experiences of godlessness and of human suffering point to the call of Christians to bring liberation and humanization to these persons. Ton van Prooijen states that for Moltmann theological anthropology must be liberating, so that dehumanized human beings can find their humanity. Therefore, liberation becomes a main task of the restored human as the imago