Play Saves the World Episode 43: Moltmann's A Theology of Play (part 3)

How do Christian theology and play intersect? Moltmann's seminal book, A Theology of Play, explores this, and we discuss pages 25-36.

Christ became a human being not just to be a remedy for sin, but to create a new reality or a re-creation of the world. This tells us something about the nature of God: abundance, joy, and newness.
“God's love goes beyond his mercy and beyond man's misery. So it reaches beyond the mere restoration of the sick to the healthy state of the new life” (26).
“Only those who are capable of joy can feel pain at their own and other people's suffering. [One] who can laugh can also weep. [One] who has hope is able to endure the world and to mourn" (31).
In faith we accept ourselves as we are and gain new confidence in ourselves because we have been trusted more than we deserve and ever thought possible." (32)
“Games always presuppose innocence” (31)

The final purpose of history is liberation from the tyranny of needing to have a purpose.
"Life which is made meaningful by purposes and goals must find the vision of heaven terrible, since that vision only invites infinite and purposeless boredom. Christian eschatology [ideas about the end times] has never thought of the end of history as a kind of retirement or payday …" (34)

Moltmann's A Theology of Play (part 3) – Christ the New Creation