Revisiting Jürgen Moltmann’s theology of open friendship

Abstract

ABSTRACT Jürgen Moltmann’s theology of open friendship, which he has consistently explicated for the last forty years, has contributed greatly to the theological discourse of friendship. Here I attempt to demonstrate that Moltmann has not developed this subject much over his forty years of engagement with it. However, based on his valuable insights, I offer two constructive proposals to further his idea of open friendship. The first is more analytical in that I demonstrate that Moltmann’s understanding of open friendship is close to what is called the ‘drawing’ model of friendship, although the advent of strangers among us necessitates that we take both Moltmann and the drawing model further. My second proposal is to construct imaginatively a new munus triplex of Jesus as Friend, Servant, and Stranger rather than following Moltmann who suggests a munus quadruplex focusing on Jesus the Friend.