Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel

Comprised of four lectures and two sermons, Passion for God provides a unique look into the theological perspectives of renowned theologians Jurgen Moltmann and Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel, each a preeminent figure in the proliferation of contemporary theology in the twentieth century.

"Friendship is a broad sphere which unites heaven and earth..." Less beholden to traditional models of family and to classical male ideals, a new generation is re-evaluating and transforming friendship, says Elizabeth Moltmann-Wendel. Observing this phenomenon, particularly among women, she elaborates its biblical affinities and its potential for enriching an often-friendless culture. In an honest and meditative style, Moltmann-Wendel finds in friendship new dimensions of adventure, consolation, self-knowledge, love, and political relevance, as well as profound resonances with Jesus' friendships with women, especially Mary Magdalene, and with his friends at the Last Supper.

For Elizabeth Moltmann-Wendel, friendship is an under-estimated treasure which needs to be rediscovered. Friendship, she argues, is an alternative to traditional family ties which respects friends as different from ourselves. Friendship with one's body and the earth expresses a full relationship between our physical selves and the world around us; and to see God as friend and Jesus as friend implies a relationship of partnership rather than that of father and child which is customary in the tradition. In this warm book, drawing on the thought, among others, of Jurgen Moltmann, Sallie McFague, Carter Heyward and Mary Hunt, Elizabeth Moltmann-Wendel explores the sources of friendship in the Bible, in the Christian tradition and in contemporary literature.

Our predominant experience is that we have a body, with which we work, eat, dance, make love, have pleasure. But sometimes when we are sick, tired, or in pain, our perception changes; then we experience that we are our bodies. That is the experience which Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel explores in this unique book.