Jöurgen Moltmann (born 1926) was professor of systematic theology at the University of Tubingen. During the mid-1960s he achieved international prominence as the leading exponent of the "theology of hope." This, along with subsequent works in Christology, anthropology, and ethics, established him as one of Germany's most important Protestant theologians of the 20th century.

Jöurgen Moltmann was born in 1926 in Hamburg, Germany. His childhood and pre-university education were lived during the years of the Nazi regime. In 1944 he was sent off to war and was captured (in February 1945) by the British. Although the war ended three months later, he was held as a prisoner of war for more than three years in Scotland and England. These were formative years for Moltmann. He spoke of the guilt and inconsolable grief he felt over the crimes of his country and the necessity of standing up to...