July 12, 2006

German Protestant Juergen Moltmann has been declared the greatest theologian of the 20th century in the final round of the Systematic Theology World Cup that took place on the Internet while the world’s top soccer tournament was happening in Germany.

“Moltmann’s relevance for his age, as well as his impact on church and academia was considered to be more significant,” noted Finnish theologian Patrik Hagman who staged the four-week contest on the Web site http://shrinkinguni.blogspot.com/.

Thirty-two theologians were put down for the qualifying groups when the theology tournament opened on June 9, with 16 of them going through to final heats. The online poll matches followed the timetable of the World Cup run by FIFA, global soccer’s governing body. The final pitted Moltmann against Swiss Roman Catholic Hans Urs von Balthasar.

The contest was decided by visitors to the internet site who were asked to rate the two finalists on five criteria linked to creativity, relevance, permanence, and impact on the Church and on the academic world.

Moltmann won four of the five polled categories as well as the overall vote, but von Balthasar’s works were considered by the majority to have a more timeless quality, Hagman noted.

Born in Hamburg in 1926, Moltmann is considered one of the most important Reformed theologians of the latter half of the 20th century and is known for stressing Christian hope and the solidarity of the “crucified God” with humanity.

Moltmann beat Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, in the quarter-finals, and went on to reach the final after beating Catholic Karl Rahner in the semi-final.

Von Balthasar, who died in 1988, beat Protestant Wolfhart Pannenberg in the quarter-finals and faced US Lutheran Robert W. Jenson in the semi-finals.

Born in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1905, von Balthasar was reputed to be Pope John Paul II’s favourite theologian. He was trained as a Jesuit, but left the order to found a secular institute dedicated to the cultural transformation of society.

— Ecumenical News International