Eberhard Jüngel

Eberhard Jüngel (b. 1933) is a German theologian and Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Tübingen, Germany. He is a contemporary and colleague of Jürgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and is considered in the German-speaking world to be a thinker of comparable stature to these theologians. His dense, sometimes Heideggerian prose is not easily translated, and his own lack of English (he was raised in East Germany) has stood in the way of similar recognition in the English-speaking world. He has been influenced by Karl Barth (he is perhaps the most significant heir of Barth writing today), Rudolf Bultmann and Martin Luther, as well as philosophers G.W.F. Hegel and Martin Heidegger.
Much of Jüngel's significant work finds expression in dense theological essays, of which five volumes have been published to date (two have been translated into English: John Webster has translated volume 1 of Theological Essays and Arnold Neufeldt-Fast has translated volume 2, edited by John Webster). Jüngel's interest centers around a theology of language or hermeneutic theology. From his teachers Ernst Fuchs and Gerhard Ebeling he has borrowed an understanding of the gospel as a "word event", a concept he goes on to develop in dialogue with the philosophical tradition (see especially his essay on Metaphorical Truth, translated in Webster's collection). Jüngel's magnum opus, God as the Mystery of the World, appeared in 1977 (Siebeck; Eerdmans, 1983). Starting with a detailed critique of the common premises of both classical theism and modern atheism, he develops a trinitarian account of God explicated in terms of love. His early volume on Barth's doctrine of God, God's Being is in Becoming is a compact and dense reading of Barth. More recently, Jüngel became engaged in the debate around the Lutheran - Roman Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, where his critique of an earlier draft was influential. A fruit of this debate was his fairly accessible volume on The Gospel of Justification.
== Publications ==
* Paul and Jesus (1962, 6. Aufl. 1986) ISBN 3-16-145119-8
* God's Being is in Becoming. Responsible discourse on the Being of God in Karl Barth, a Paraphrase (1965, 4. Aufl. 1986) ISBN 3-16-145077-9
* On the way to the matter. Theological remarks (1972, 3. Aufl. 2000) ISBN 3-16-147293-4
* God as the Mystery of the World: On the Foundation of the Theology of the Crucified One in the Dispute Between Theism and Atheism (Paul Siebeck, 1977; Eerdmans, 1983; Aufl. 2001) 
* Presence of mind. Sermons I/II (1979) ISBN 3-459-01189-0
* Correspondences: God - truth - humans (1980, 3. Aufl. 2002)
* Tasting and seeing. Sermons III (1983) ISBN 3-459-01510-1
* Interruptions. Lectures IV (1989) ISBN 3-459-01826-7
* Value-free truth. To the identity and relevance of the Christian faith (1990, 2. Aufl. 2003) ISBN 3-16-148222-0
* The gospel of the justification of the Godless as center of the Christian faith (1998, 3. Aufl. 1999) ISBN 3-16-147271-3
* Indicative of grace - Imperative of freedom. Theological discussions IV (2000) ISBN 3-16-147366-3
* Sermons and Biblical meditations V (2001) ISBN 3-87173-222-2
* Relations Realm. Perspectives of the faith (2002) ISBN of 3-87173-245-1
* Beginners: Origin and future of Christian existence (2003) ISBN 3-87173-275-3
* Become Whole: Theological discussions V (2003) ISBN 3-16-147969-6
* Sermons 1-4 (2003) ISBN 3-87173-265-6
== Resources ==
* John Webster, Eberhard Jüngel: An Introduction to his Theology. Cambridge, 1991.
* _______, The Possibilities of Theology: Studies in the Theology of Eberhard Jungel. T&T Clark, 1994 / Continuum, 2006.
* Paul DeHart, Beyond the Necessary God : Trinitarian Faith and Philosophy in the Thought of Eberhard Jüngel. An American Academy of Religion Book, 2000.
* Derek Nelson, "The Indicative of Grace, the Imperative of Freedom: An Invitation to the Theology of Eberhard Jüngel,” Dialog 44:2 (2005): 164-80.
== External links ==
* Jesus' speech, God's word: an introduction to Eberhard Jüngel - part 1, by John Webster
* Who God is, who we are: an introduction to Eberhard Jüngel - part 2, by John Webster
* Eberhard Jüngel, and introduction to his thought
* Beyond the Necessary God: Trinitarian Faith and Philosophy in the Thought of Eberhard Jüngel, by David Lauber
* The Death of Jesus and the Truth of the Triune God in Wolfhart Pannenberg and Eberhard Jüngel (PDF), by Jonathan P. Case
* How God Comes to the World, by Richard Schroeder
* Eberhard Jüngel Page, with extensive links to on-line primary and secondary resources, by Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, Tyndale Seminary
* Eberhard Jüngel: Bibliography of Works in English
* God as the Mystery of Theology, a blog devoted to discussing the works of Eberhard Jüngel
* Posts on Eberhard Jüngel, by Ben Meyers
=== Online writings ===
* Toward the Heart of the Matter
* The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard: Bible study on Matthew 20:1-15, translated by Marc Batko
* Egoism versus Pluralism: The Crucifix Decision
 
Jüngel, Eberhard