WCC paper explores Zambian theological engagement with Prof. Dr Jürgen Moltmann

“In particular, Moltmann’s account of relationality lacks sufficient metaphysical density, his pneumatology remains insufficiently integrated with cosmological categories, and his methodological openness does not fully resolve the epistemic asymmetries identified by decolonial critique,” said Nalwamba. “The article therefore proposes that Moltmann’s theology is best received not as a completed system but as a productive theological framework requiring ontological, cosmological, and epistemological extension.”

Through the categories of vital force, communal ontology, and embodied ecological history, a Zambian theological engagement does not merely appropriate Moltmann but reconfigures the conditions of his theological intelligibility, noted Nalwamba. 

Following decolonial insights, theology is understood as epistemically located rather than universally given,” she said. “In this respect, the argument resonates with broader concerns in contemporary German systematic theology regarding the status of metaphysics after its critique, particularly in debates on relational ontology and trinitarian theology.”

Nalwamba pointed out that Moltmann’s move from a substantialist to a perichoretic understanding of the Trinity—God as a communion of mutual indwelling—finds significant resonance with relational ontologies embedded in Zambian life-worlds. “Personhood is not conceived as an isolated substance but as constituted through relationship,” she said. “Moltmann’s interpretation of the cross as an event within the life of the Trinity offers a powerful theological response to contexts marked by suffering and historical violence.”

Nalwamba further noted that Moltmann’s rejection of substance metaphysics in favour of relational ontology is theologically productive but metaphysically ambiguous. “While perichoresis successfully displaces static conceptions of divine being, it does not in itself provide a sufficiently articulated account of how relationality is ontologically constituted,” she said. “From the perspective of vital force ontology, relationality is not merely structural but energetic and generative: it denotes a dynamic field of life in which beings participate differentially.”

Without such ontological specification, Moltmann’s relational theology risks remaining formally compelling yet materially indeterminate, Nalwamba said.

“Moltmann’s ethics of solidarity, while significant, remains largely at the level of moral relation,” she said. “In the Zambian context, ecological devastation linked to extractive industries underscores the necessity of a theology that is materially grounded and politically attentive.”

Pneumatology must therefore engage not only divine indwelling but also the liberation of violated bodies and lands, Nalwamba said. “Hope is located not only in eschatological promise but in present practices of care, resistance, and communal survival,” she said. “This concretises Moltmann’s theology of hope within lived realities.”

"WCC honors Jürgen Moltmann’s legacy at commemorative conference", WCC news release, 14 April 2026