248 Dimensions of Baptism
vulnerable space. It calls people to a freedom of suffering love, completely
in line with earlier writings about the crucified God and the messianic
calling of the Church. Arne Rasmusson thinks there is a tension between
this and Moltmann's preoccupation with the Christian life as self-realiza-
tion,^47 between the language of discipleship and an emphasis on 'sponta-
neity'.^48 He maintains that Moltmann is critical of an ethic of self-control,
control of the natural urges and of ecclesial discipline concerning personal
life.^49 But these traits in Moltmann's thought are not the same as turning
away from the language of Christian discipleship. They have more to do
with how Christian discipleship is to be conceived. Moltmann is suspi-
cious of a discipleship driven by legalism and ideological conservatism.
For Moltmann legalism, conservatism and perfectionism are the friends of
oppressive, top-down ecclesiologies, of church-fundamentalism and of
clericalism. Elsewhere Rasmusson complains that Moltmann interprets
history through the two radical options of conservatism and liberalism, the
authoritarian principle on the one hand, freedom on the other. No other
option is entertained and Moltmann naturally opts for the progressive view,
lamenting the Church's record against democracy, liberalism, socialism,
feminism, etc., and everything that supports human rights.^50
What should be made of Rasmusson's criticism? True, Moltmann does
write dialectically, leading him to plunder the gains of the Enlightenment
and critique the Church. Probably he is not critical enough of modernity,particularly in earlier writings, though he is far from blind to its manifest
failures. But his view of discipleship is not in tension with his concern for
freedom. His approach to calling and baptism flows mainly from theology.
It springs from his understanding of Luther's 'crucified God', from a revi-talization of the doctrine of the Trinity, and from strong notions of the
Spirit and the Church. 'Spontaneity' is about authenticity of discipleship,
as opposed to Christian 'calling' merely driven by fear, self-interest and
church discipline. His quest is for empathetic discipleship, for creative,
constructive suffering, the suffering of love and solidarity with those who
are genuinely oppressed. In a surprising way he opposes the individualism
associated both with the Enlightenment and with pietism. He wants to- A. Rasmusson, The Church as Polis: From Political Theology to Theological
Politics as Exemplified by Jurgen Moltmann and Stanley Hauerwas (Notre Dame:
University of Notre Dame Press, 1995), p. 89. - Rasmusson, The Church as Polis, p. 101.
- Rasmusson, The Church as Polis, pp. 103-104.
- Rasmusson, The Church as Polis, pp. 90-91.