Futurist eschatologies in Africa and Europe : Pannenberg, Moltmann, Mbiti and Kato.

Abstract

This dissertation deals with Futurist Eschatologies in Africa and Europe: Pannenberg, Moltmann, Mbiti and Kato. It therefore engages with intercultural hermeneutics and theologies of different contexts. It is set on the premise that Christianity as worldwide community of believers depends on the reasoning from different cultures and contexts. The dissertation engages with the four theologians individually at first and then brings their positions into a dialogue. The individual engagement serves the purpose of determining the context of each of the theologians. The context is found in the biographies of Kato, Moltmann, Mbiti and Pannenberg. Even though the four theologians are born within a timespan of eleven years their life circumstances differ greatly. But the dissertation also engages with context referring to the way Mbiti, Kato, Pannenberg and Moltmann relate their eschatologies to the rest of their theology and how they determine the importance of eschatology for life in time. The dissertation furthermore compares the writings of the four theologians. Therefore, special attention is given to Hermeneutics, the understanding of time and certain eschatological topics such as death, resurrection and judgement. Similarities and differences in different approaches of the four theologians are described and analysed. In conclusion, the dissertation stresses the importance of theological context. The term theological context refers to the correlation between different perspectives of theology. The dissertation opts for an eschatology that is founded solidly in Christology.