Wolfhart Pannenberg's Theology of History

Andrey Lavrentiev - Chair of State-Confessional Relations, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Moscow, Russia). lavandrus@googlemail.com

The article deals with the role of Christianity in the universal history, as represented in the works of modern German theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg (1926 - 2014). In the first part it discusses the problems of anthropological and theological approaches towards church history and the theory of historical research. The author represents the problem, which was widely discussed in western theology - a problem of correlation between salvation history (Heilsgeschichte) and universal history as well as the Pannenberg's idea of indirect action of God in historical process. Pannenberg's historical-theological views are put in dialogue with such thinkers of the 20th century as O. Cullmann, K. Rahner, J. Danielou, E. Muhlenberg. Then the article explores Pannenberg's views on the Christian church's role in the forming of Western civilization. In addition to the constructive contribution of the church to the civilized system of European nations, Pannenberg views destructive consequences of Christians'retreat from their true religious missions, seen in such dramatic events as religious wars and the extinction of the Christian state.

Keywords: philosophy and theology of history, church history, modern German theology, Wolfhart Pannenberg.

Lavrentiev A. Teologiya istorii Volfkharta Pannenberg [Theology of the History of Wolfhart Pannenberg]. 2015. N 3 (33). pp. 345-360.

Lavrentiev, Andrey (2015) "Wolfhart Pannenberg's Theology of History", Gosudarstuo, rekgiia, tserkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom 33(3): 345 - 360.

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The CHRISTIAN understanding of history is inseparable from providentialism, that is, the idea of divine providence operating in history. The religious goal of man-salvation and eternal life-is achieved through the special action of God in the world. According to the Christian faith, progress towards this goal is made in the Church as a sacramental community of believers in Jesus Christ, who accomplished the work of human salvation; through participation in the life of the Church, believers are transformed into a " new Adam "(1 Cor 15:45-47) and a" holy nation " (1 Pet 2:9).

The place and role of the Church in world history is a topic that was not only discussed by ancient Christian authors, but is also relevant for modern theological thought. However, approaches to the study of the history of Christianity (or church history) differ both in theological and secular discourses, and within these discourses, which creates the problem of understanding church history in the context of universal history. Below we will look at the legacy of Wolfhart Pannenberg (1928-2014), one of the most prominent representatives of continental Lutheran theology in the twentieth century, who paid much attention to the theological interpretation of history.

Pannenberg's positions on secular and theological approaches to historical knowledge, the diversity of relevant theological opinions, and the role of the Christian Church (in a supra-confessional sense) in the history of European civilization will be discussed later.

Pannenberg is considered a classic of modern theological anthropology and theology of history, and his ideas are given prominence in almost every modern Western textbook on the history of theology and religious thought. Pannenberg's theology of history is a development of his concept of the historical revelation of God, which addresses such issues as the antinomy of God's transcendence and immanence in the created world, the subject of history, human freedom and providentialism, historical contingency and determinism1.

1. On the theology of Pannenberg in Russian, see: Garadzha V. I. Protestant concept of man / / Bourgeois philosophical anthropology of the XX century. Moscow, 1986. pp. 279-293; Garadzha V. I. Human concepts: E. Brunner, F. Gogarten, P. Tillich, V. Pannenberg / / From Luther to Weizsacker: great Protestant thinkers Germany / V. A. Zots, comp. Moscow, 1994. pp. 264 - 276; Gartfeld G. Pannenberg // Gartfeld G. Pannenberg. German theology of the New Age: schools, personalities, ideas. M.,

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First of all, Pannenberg draws attention to the fact that modern theological interpretations of history were strongly influenced by secular historical science, which excluded the religious perspective (and often took anti-religious positions). Pannenberg recalls that since the end of the sixteenth century, it was customary to distinguish between human history (historia humana) and divine history (providential-soteriological), and the latter, as a rule, was limited to the framework of biblical history (i.e., events recorded in the Bible) .2 Subsequently, under the influence of pragmatic historiography of the XVIII century. this division was finally established, and man, not God, became the subject of history. Thus, secular history denies the divine presence and action in the world, whereas religious (or sacred) history presupposes it. Nevertheless, many early Modern theologians viewed the history of the Church exclusively as a "human" and therefore desacralized sphere. Pannenberg notes that the authors of most of the works on church history at that time relied on the deistic idea of God's non-participation in world processes after the events described in the New Testament.

2005. pp. 247-260; Ukolov K. I. Theological anthropology of Wolfhart Pannenberg in the context of German theology of the XX century. Philosophy. 2011. Issue 2 (34). pp. 34-46; see also introductory articles by K. I. Ukolov and his translations of selected works of Pannenberg in: Comparative Theology: German Protestantism of the XX century. Texts with comments / Comp., author's introduction. Christoph Gestrich; trans., auth. вступ. Articles by K. I. Ukolov, Moscow, 2009, pp. 432-490; Lavrentiev A.V. Historizm i istoriko-kriticheskiy metod v teologii V. Pannenberg [Historicism and historical-critical method in theology of V. Pannenberg]. Philosophy. 2012. Issue 3 (41). pp. 7-18; Lavrentiev A.V. The problem of the historicity of God in the works of Wolfhart Pannenberg (philosophical, dogmatic and ecumenical aspects) // Bulletin of St. Petersburg State University. I: Theology. Philosophy. 2014. Issue 2 (52). pp. 43-58; Lavrentiev A.V. Pannenberg / / Big Russian Encyclopedia, vol. 25. Moscow: 2014. pp. 224-225. A section is devoted to Pannenberg's theology in a monograph first published in the United States in 1929 and subsequently translated into Russian: S. Grenz, R. Olson. Theology and theologians of the XX century Cherkassy: Colloquium, 2011. pp. 280-301. The above-mentioned works are devoted either to a general overview of Pannenberg's theological system, or to its individual aspects (anthropology and theology of history). This article discusses aspects of Pannenberg's theology that are not affected in the above-mentioned works: the problem of developing ideas about historical knowledge in theology and the related question of the subject of history, as well as the question of the ecclesiological perspective of history.

2. См.: Pannenberg, W. (1993) Systematische Theologie. Bd. 3, s. 539. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

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For his part, Pannenberg tried to establish the theological concept of universal history3, the essence of which is to affirm the unity of global history4 and religious (sacred) history: the totality of historical events is a continuous and unified process in which both man and God act.

This initiative of Pannenberg was caused by a polemic with a number of religious thinkers who in the 1950s - 60s began to separate universal history (understood as secular) from the biblical (that is, sacred). For example, the Protestant theologian and New Testament scholar Oskar Kuhlmann highlighted the events of religious history (the so-called "history of salvation").5) in a special series that has a different dimension compared to the events of world history 6. In addition, Kuhlmann argued that the history of salvation, which he understood as "the unfolding of the event of Christ," takes place imperceptibly, since with the completion of the New Testament events, the revelation of God's soteriological plan for the world and man ceases.7
A similar position was observed in the Catholic theologian Karl Rahner, who separated the events of the history of salvation from the events of world history. At the same time, in his opinion, the history of salvation continues to the present time, since the salvation of people is performed by God not only during the earthly life of Christ. However, Rahner believed that the post-biblical story should not be named after the Bible.

3. These are, first of all, the following works by Pannenberg: Heilsgeschehen und Geschichte (1959), Kerygma und Geschichte (1961), Hermeneutik und Universalgeschichte (1963).

4. "Global" or "universal" history here means the totality of all events and processes that took place in the world.

5. In general, the concept of "salvation history" is included in the providential paradigm. Salvation history refers to a series of purposeful divine actions in human history that lead to the religious salvation of humanity. Since the Middle Ages, this concept was considered an adequate hermeneutical key for understanding the unity of the Bible, and later received a new development in modern Western theology (both Catholic and Protestant) in the context of the realities of Modern times, so that it became possible to speak of a special direction - theology of the history of salvation or historical-soteriological theology.

6. Cullmann, O. (1965) Heil als Geschichte: heilsgeschichtliche Existenz im Neuen Testament. Tubingen: Mohr (Siebeck). Esp. S. 135 and dal.

7. Cullmann, O. Heil als Geschichte: heilsgeschichtliche Existenz im Neuen Testament, s. 270.

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the story of salvation in the strict sense, since it no longer contains the events of revelation 8.

From Pannenberg's point of view, this separation of the history of salvation from global processes is too formal. In his opinion, the understanding of history should have a Christological dimension: the revelation of Christ has a meaning that is either eschatological or futurological in nature, and therefore is not limited to the events of biblical history and permeates the entire history of mankind until its completion. In other words, Christian historiosophy is also necessary, and not just a Christ-logically meaningful cosmology (i.e., the doctrine of creation). At the same time, Pannenberg recognized that the Christian understanding of history will always have a preliminary, imperfect character, since it is impossible to talk about the end of revelation before the end of history.

Twentieth-century Western theology also articulated the idea of the Church's evangelical mission in history: many theologians argued that after the ascension of Jesus Christ and before his second coming, the historical task of the Church is to preach the gospel. This point of view was shared by the already mentioned Fr. Kuhlmann 9, and the French Catholic theologian Jean Danielou 10. At the same time, Danielou believed that the historical vocation of the Church is also the formulation of doctrinal dogmas. In addition, Danielou opposed the tendency to limit the history of salvation exclusively to biblical events and believed that the latter is characteristic of Protestant theology. Despite the fact that Pannenberg belongs to Protestantism (Lutheranism) and his desire to always coordinate history with the biblical revelation, in this case his position is quite consistent with the point of view of the Catholic Daniel.

In modern Western theology, Pannenberg identifies two approaches to understanding history: anthropocentric, which excludes the participation of God in the historical process, and theological, which recognizes the action of God in world history. By

8. Rahner, K. (1964) "Weltgeschichte und Heilsgeschichte", in Rahner, К. Schriften zur Theologie. Bd. 5, s. 183 - 221. Zurich: Benzinger.

9. Cullmann, O. (1962) Christus und die Zeit: Die urchristliche Zeit- und Geschichtsauffassung, s. 139ff, 145. Zurich: EVZ-Verl.

10. Danielou, J. (1953) Essai sur le mystere de l'histoire. Paris: Ed. du Seuil. P. 18 and dal.

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however, in his opinion, religious affiliation in this case does not play a fundamental role. Thus, among the few theologians who have developed a theological approach to understanding the history of the Church, Pannenberg names such Protestant thinkers as Eric Rust, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Hendrik Burkhof.11 On the other hand, Catholic theologians such as Rahner and Balthasar12 shared, in his opinion, the position of the Protestant Kuhlmann, rejecting the theological approach.

Pannenberg himself advocated a theological approach to the understanding of history (at least in theological circles), associated with the main idea of eschatologically directed revelation for his theology. The essence of this idea is that the course of world history, its movement towards its completion, is a process of gradual revelation of God, which will reach its fullness at the end of history. It is this futurological vector, that is, the movement of history towards the end (eschaton), that determines, according to Pennenberg, the meaning of the events of the present, which, therefore, is also the "place" of God's action and revelation. In other words, without denying that man has an active role in shaping history, Pannenberg defends the key role of God as the subject of history. 13
Pannenberg notes that in the eighteenth century, criticism of the traditional theological understanding of history was directed primarily against the idea of God's action in history as the direct cause of historical events. Pannenberg considers the "pragmatic method" in history to be an example of such a nontheistic approach.-

11. Berkhof, H. (1962) Der Sinn der Geschichte: Christus. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

12. Cm. Balthasar, H.U. von. (1950) Theologie der Geschichte. Einsiedeln; Balthasar, H.U. von. (1963) Das Ganze im Fragment. Aspekte der Geschichtstheologie. Einsiedeln.

13. Over the past 40 years, many studies have been conducted in the West on the historical concept of Pannenberg. Let us mention (in chronological order) only some of the most fundamental works: Berten, I. (1969) Histoire, revelation et foi. Dialogue avec Wolfhart Pannenberg. Bruxelles; Muller, D. (1983) Parole et Histoire. Dialogue avec Wolfhart Pannenberg. Geneve; Koch, K. (1988) Der Gott der Geschichte. Theologie der Geschichte bei Wolfhart Pannenberg als Paradigma einer philosophischen Theologie in okumenischer Perspektive. Mainz; Nnamdi, R. (1993) Offenbarung und Geschichte. Zur hermeneutischen Bestimmung der Theologie Wolfhart Pannenbergs. Frankfurt am Main u.a.; Fukai, T. (1996) Paradox und Prolepsis. Geschichtstheologie bei Reinhold Niebuhr und Wolfhart Pannenberg. Marburg; Kendel, A. (2001) Geschichte, Antizipation und Auferstehung. Theologische und textteoretische Untersuchung zu W. Pannenbergs Verstdndnis von Wirklichkeit. Frankfurt am Main u.a.

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riography developed by Johann Mosheim 14 and his followers 15. Pragmatic historiography also excludes the participation of God in history, just as modern natural science excludes miracles (in the sense of violating the laws of nature). Pannenberg believes that the reason why not only secular but also ecclesiastical historians began to lean towards anthropocentrism and naturalism was due to the erroneous idea of God's action in history - as a supernatural intervention in its course. While Pannenberg does not completely deny such supernatural intervention (since this would mean not recognizing the supernatural events described in the Bible), he still insists that the fulfillment of the divine plan for the world does not occur through the direct intervention of God in natural and historical laws, but indirectly through the actions of creation itself, that is, man. At the same time, the actions of God and the actions of man should not be contrasted, since they belong to fundamentally different levels 16.

From the point of view of Pannenberg, the idea that the will of God determines the historical process in Modern times has found expression in the secular idea of historical development, which has become, in fact, a substitute for faith in the iconological (saving) action of God. According to Pannenberg, both the idea of providence and the belief in progress (as its secular equivalent) consolidate the historical process, and thus history finds a purpose and, consequently, unity.

At the same time, Pannenberg notes that thanks to the nineteenth - century notion of "ideas" operating in history, it became possible to view diverse phenomena of the historical process in a certain unity-as connected by a common principle. For example, Johann Droysen wrote about certain "intelligent forces" (sittliche Machte) operating in history as ideas that connect people's actions into a teleological unity.17 After Droysen, this line of thought was developed by the German theologian and theorist of historicism Ernst Trelch, who said:-

14. Mosheim, Johnn Lorenz (1693-1755) was a Lutheran theologian and noted Church historian.

15. См. Mosheim, J.L. (1755) Georgiae Augustae Cancellarii Institutionum historiae ecclesiasticae antiqueae et recentioris libri quatuor. Helmstadii: apud Chr.F. Weygand.

16. Pannenberg, W. Systematische Theologie, s. 542.

17. Droysen, J.G. (1958) Historik. Vorlesungen uber Enzyklopadie und Methodologie der Geschichte (Neudruck), s. 342 - 344. Munchen: Oldenbourg.

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It is a study of values and cultural ideals that arise spontaneously in history. Treltsch perceived them as "a revelation of the foundations of divine existence", the reception of which is a condition for applying the concept of "development"in historiography.18
According to Pannenberg, in the second half of the twentieth century, the concept of such transcendent principles integrating different historical epochs corresponds to the concept of the German theologian and historian Ekkehard Muhlenberg, who asserts that "history is the appearance of God."19 For Muhlenberg, such a "phenomenon of God" is not a specific Church or the idea of a Church; in his opinion, the concept of a "phenomenon of God" corresponds to the concept of It is the power of good, which has manifested itself in different epochs and in different ways, winning the victory over evil.20 From the point of view of Pannenberg, the examples offered by Muhlenberg do not sufficiently point to the unity of history, and the very vague concept of "forces of good" is difficult to make an integrating principle. Pannenberg believes that it is necessary first of all to remember the idea of God as the Creator, who has power over all creation. At the same time, he admits that Muhlenberg's concept also has its unquestionable merits, among which is the desire to emphasize that God performs saving actions already in this - worldly reality. The latter contradicted the widespread Christian opinion about the otherworldly nature of salvation (from the point of view of Pannenberg, erroneous).

Thus, Pannenberg negatively assesses the penetration of the anthropocentric approach to understanding history into theology, which resulted, firstly, in the division of the historical process into profane and sacred components, and secondly, in the desacralization of post-biblical history - both ecclesiastical and secular. At the same time, Pannenberg draws attention to attempts to restore the transcendental (theistic) foundations of the interpretation of history, which took place in the works of Droysen, Trelch and Muhlenberg.

Pannenberg understands the mission of the Church in history in the context of traditional Christian teaching - as a witness to ab-

18. Troeltsch, E. (1961) Der Historismus und seine Probleme (Neudruck), s. 172ff. Aalen: Scientia. Cit. S. 175.

19. Muhlenberg, E. (1991) Epochen der Kirchengeschichte, s. 17. 2 Aufl. Heidelberg u.a.: Quelle & Meyer.

20. Muhlenberg, E. (1978) "Gott in der Geschichte. Erwagungen zur Geschichtstheologie von W. Pannenberg", Kerygma und Dogma 24: 244 - 261. Цит. S. 257.

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the soluteness (that is, the perfect truth) of the Christian proclamation. At the same time, Pannenberg believes that church evangelism should not be offered as an a priori dogmatic truth, since in this case the rootedness of Christianity in living history will be ignored: church proclamation must necessarily be based on specific historical events. Pannenberg finds a positive side in the fact that Christian teaching has been repeatedly questioned (and continues to be) throughout history, because disputes about the truth of Christianity encourage Church members to take a more responsible attitude towards their mission.21 The French theologian Danielou, already mentioned, believed that the second coming of Christ was postponed precisely so that the Church could fully embrace the human race with its preaching.22 Pannenberg is of the same opinion, saying that the history of the Church in the period between Pentecost and Parousia (the second coming of Christ) is a time of preaching that must reach all of humanity before the end of history.23
However, Pannenberg does not reduce the function of the Church to missionary activity, considering that the kerygmatic (preaching) task should be connected with other tasks. He finds the development of this idea in the historiosophical concept of Danielou, according to which church preaching is a link that unites world and church history in cultural terms. The preaching of the Gospel was accompanied by the integration of Christianity into various cultures, and the Church, overgrown with various elements of national cultures, conveyed it to other peoples who also accepted the Christian gospel.24 As a result, it is thanks to the Church that the heritage of Greek-Latin culture (and partly the cultures of the Ancient East) has become the property of all mankind. Thus, according to Daniel - and Pannenberg after him - one of the effects of the interaction between the Church and the world was the formation of a global community.-

21. The history of the Church is also understood as "the history of the dispute about the Christian God" in Muhlenberg (see Muhlenberg, E. Epochen der Kirchengeschichte, p. 260).

22. Danielou, J. Essai sur le mystere de l'histoire, p. 18 and dal.

23. Pannenberg, W. Systematische Theologie, s. 548.

24. Danielou, J. Essai sur le mystere de l'histoire, p. 39 - 48.

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howl of Christian culture, which was of great importance for the history of different nations 25.

In addition to the integrative function of the Church in the field of culture, Pannenberg draws attention to other forms of Church participation in the formation of European civilization. Thus, he notes that after the transformation of Christianity into the dominant religion on the territory of the Roman Ecumene, the Church became responsible for social order, although later representatives of the church authorities often neglected this responsibility. Pannenberg insists that the Church should participate in the formation of a socio-political order that is acceptable to the Christian way of life. 26 From his point of view, this is not an interference of the Church in a foreign sphere of politics. The negative aspect was that in a situation where the Church had the opportunity to influence the norms of the social structure, church leaders were tempted by the temptation of earthly power, to which they often succumbed.

From Pannenberg's point of view, the relationship of Church members should have been a model of a peaceful and harmonious social order for the entire population of the Roman Empire after its Christianization, which would have allowed to extinguish hostility between peoples and races and thus create a society renewed by evangelical ideals. At the same time, consistently considering the main stages of Christian history, Pannenberg comes to the conclusion that it is possible to talk about at least partial implementation of this task only in relation to the period of the reign of Constantine the Great (as evidenced by the "Church History" of Eusebius of Caesarea27). In general, he recognizes the unrealization of the Christian social ideal, pointing to events and processes that clearly indicate this.: this is Arianism, which was the cause of discord and bitter struggle among Christians, 28 as well as the Christological disputes of the fifth century, which caused a whole wave of divisions in the Christian world.

25. Danielou, J. Essai sur le mystere de l'histoire, p. 59 and dal.

26. Pannenberg, W. Systematische Theologie, s. 551.

27. Ibid., s. 557.

28. Pannenberg speaks here first of all of the Germanic peoples who converted to Christianity in the Arian version, as a result of which their peaceful integration into the orthodox Christian society of the empire was impossible.

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The consequences of these disputes, according to Pannenberg, were of great, if not decisive, importance for the collapse of the Roman Empire and the death of its western part under the onslaught of barbarians. In addition, strife in the Christian world resulted in the loss of traditional Christian territories in Syria and Palestine, as well as in Egypt and North Africa, which were Islamized in the seventh century. (after that, the Islamization of Spain took place).

For a theological interpretation of these events, Pannenberg turns to the concept of "God's judgment on his Church in history"29. According to Pannenberg, the judgment of God is a consequence of the inappropriate attitude of Church members towards their apostolic mission, and its effect extends not only to the internal church life, but also to the socio-political life of Christian peoples. Pannenberg suggests that the above-mentioned events should be considered as the results of God's judgment: Christians were deprived of territories in which they could live and freely practice their faith; they were also deprived of statehood, within which a Christian social order was possible. Pannenberg sees the main reasons for such Divine punishment as Christians ' neglect of their religious vocation and their preoccupation with earthly concerns, as well as the lack of consensus on doctrinal issues.

The history of Western Christianity, according to Pannenberg, is also impossible to understand without invoking the category of God's judgment. So, for example, in his opinion, the conquest of Asia Minor and the Balkans by the Turks happened not least because of the ecclesiastical schism of the East and West in 1054. The latter occurred not simply because of the political disunity of the Byzantine and Western European rulers, but primarily because of the lack of peace and love among Christians, as a result of which God allowed the conquest of Christian lands. Similarly, the Pope's claim to secular power, as well as the abuse of the church hierarchy, caused the tragic division of Christianity in the West. Subsequently, the inter-confessional hostility of Christians, which was expressed in the religious wars of the XVI-XVII centuries, 30 led, according to Pannenberg, to the loss of religious freedom.-

29. Ibid., s. 557.

30. We are talking about wars between Catholics and Protestants in Western Europe in the XVI-XVII centuries, which were caused by both power claims and religious fanaticism, which was contrary to the spirit of the Gospel teaching.

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a strong belief in Christianity as a true worldview, which has become a powerful incentive for the secularization of modern Western culture. Studies on the history of early Modern Europe show that the idea of a society based on religious unity has lost its credibility due to irreconcilable inter-confessional hostility.31 All this is also, according to Pannenberg, the reason for the operation of the judgment of God. 32 For Pannenberg, however, judgment is not a direct divine intervention in the course of history. The trial is defined by Pannenberg as the condoning of certain dramatic events by God, on the one hand, and as the "launching" of these processes by Christians themselves who have neglected their evangelical mission, on the other.

The theological category of God's judgment is also present in the works of Danielou, who, however, believed that it is impossible to interpret history using this category alone, since in history one can observe not only violations of the order of life commanded by God, but also cases of repentance for such violations, which leads to the beginning of a new life.33 This view was shared by Pannenberg, who viewed both the history of Ancient Israel (the"Old Testament church") and the history of the Christian Church from this perspective. He believed that the Christian life becomes truly renewed only when society is ready to realize the wrongs committed in the past, and not to commit them in the future.

For Pannenberg, the idea of renewing Christian life is particularly important in relation to the twentieth century, when the ecumenical dialogue of Christian churches began. In his opinion, this dialogue has become an incentive for a careful, critical study of one's own confessional tradition (Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox) and for correcting mistakes made by its adherents in the past. This kind of self-criticism is particularly problematic, from Pannenberg's point of view, in the case of the Roman Catholic Church, which has made mistakes in its history that still have a negative impact on inter-Christian dialogue. First of all, he

31. См. Rabb, Th. K. (1975) The Struggle for Stability in Early Modern Europe, pp. 8off, 116ff. New York: Oxford University Press.

32. Подробнее см. Pannenberg, W. (1988) Christentum in einer sakularisierten Welt. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder. Esp. S. 18-31.

33. Danielou, J. Essay sur le mystere de l'bistoire, p. 147ff, 160.

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He refers to the papacy's power claims, which played a fatal role in the relations between the churches of East and West, as well as disrupted the balance of spiritual and secular power during the Middle Ages, which led to the loss of Christian unity in Western Europe as well. According to Pannenberg, the Second Vatican Council made a good start for the Catholic Church to overcome these historical mistakes, and representatives of Protestant churches should welcome these steps in every possible way and not hinder them, while categorically insisting on the elimination of the institution of the papacy. Pannenberg even argued that the Protestant churches should recognize the centrality of the Roman see to all of Christianity, provided that it reviewed certain dogmatic and canonical provisions. According to Pannenberg, Rome as a cultural and historical center is important for all Christianity, and therefore he hoped that the ecumenical process would be led by the Catholic Church, renewed in the spirit of the Gospel and fulfilling the words of the Savior spoken to the Apostle Peter: "And you, having once been converted, strengthen your brethren" (Lk 22: 32).

Thus, according to Pannenberg, in history the Church played a huge, often fateful role, actively participating in the formation of European civilization and in its subsequent life. While fulfilling its main mission - the proclamation of the Gospel, the Church simultaneously performed such related functions as participation in the formation of a single cultural space, as well as a certain socio-political order. The retreat of the Church and Christian society from their religious goals, discord and hostility, accompanied by bloody conflicts, caused critical turns in history, which Pannenberg sees as the actions of the judgment of God, which resulted in the collapse of Christian civilization, as well as the secularization of public consciousness.

Summarizing the above, we emphasize the following aspects of the theology of Pannenberg's history.

This Protestant theologian's interpretation of the Christian understanding of history, as well as the historical role of the Church, stems from his concept of eschatological revelation. Largely based on the ideas of German idealism, Pannenberg justified the idea of the self-revelation of the Deity in the course of history.

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Therefore, he criticized the historical anthropocentrism that permeated Modern theology, which replaced the idea of the presence and action of God in history. Also, from his point of view, the tendency of many modern theologians to limit divine revelation to the biblical (sacred) history, within which fundamental soteriological actions of God took place, is a big mistake. According to Pannenberg, God is the "all-determining reality" and therefore the creator and subject of history. This, however, does not mean that God's actions in history must necessarily take the form of a supernatural manifestation, for God also manifests himself indirectly - in concrete historical events and their constellations.

The presence of God in history, according to Pannenberg, is also attested by the Church as an assembly of believers chosen by God to be the vehicle of divine revelation. The mission of the Church is to proclaim the gospel of the salvation of the world by Jesus Christ and the transformation of the world into the Kingdom of God from an eschatological perspective. In addition, the task of the Church is to consolidate people on the basis of Christian values, which is partly what happened in history in the process of creating a pan-European culture. According to Pannenberg, the Church itself, being a symbol and anticipation of the future Kingdom of God, should serve as a model of social structure. However, the retreat of the Church in the person of its members from their religious vocation leads Pannenberg to the idea of God's judgment, by which he understands the assumption by God of certain social, geopolitical and other historical transformations that are negative for Christians.

The main thesis of Pannenberg's theology of history is that the revelation of God is realized not only in the" sacred " events mentioned in the Bible, but also in various historical processes. In this way, he asserts the continuity of God's mediated participation in history up to its conclusion, which is indicated by traditional Christian eschatology.

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