Jürgen Moltmann is excellent at appropriating Jewish theology in this theological works and this advantage over other theologians is exemplified by his incorporation of Isaac Luria's concept of zimzum (also transliterated as tzimtzum or tsimtsum) into his doctrine of creation. What is zimzum? Moltmann explains that zimzum is god's self-contraction to make spaces within god for creaturely beings to live, and therefore fall squarely within the rubric of panentheism. In Science and Wisdom, Moltmann provides this summary of zimzum:

The God who within himself indwells so widely and in so reciprocal a way, corresponds to himself when he cedes his creation space besides himself, before he creates it. God gives space, God makes room, God withdraws in order to let a non-divine reality exist with himself and in himself. This divine conferral of space provides the free and open scope for the existence, life and enduring being of those whom God creates. [1]

Perhaps a few examples will help my readers who are spooked by the term "panentheism" (p.s. Jonathan Edwards was a panentheist too). Moltmann explains zimzum with the example of a parent who withdraws their control over their children as they grow older in order to allow their children to have space enough to live their lives in their own way. In Science and Wisdom, Moltmann cites the "Declaration of Human Rights" Article 25 that says "housing precedes life" [2] and later explains that the earth is a finite space, and in order for new life to thrive, the older existing life has to contract it's living space in order to make space for new life. Moltmann's best example is his claim that the labor pains of childbirth are vestiges of god's zimzum (self-contractions).

The idea of zimzum probably goes back to the contraction of the womb at the birth of a child, just as the Hebrew word racham means the birth pangs, and is only inadequately rendered as compassion or mercy. Where God withdraws into himself he can create something whose essence is not divine, can let it co-exist with himself, give it space, and redeem it. [3]

Moltmann initially developed his concept of zimzum in his God in Creation (1984) with contributions to systematic theology series, and has continually developed his distinct concept of zimzum throughout his career. God in Creation is an atypical doctrine of creation addressing many theological and ethical loci not discussed in most theologies of creation, and it is the starting point for Moltmann's adoption of zimzum into his doctrine of creation, but Moltmann's thought develops significantly each time he returns to the topic (in many of his books). And

In Science and Wisdom (2006), Moltmann explains that his concept of zimzum has developed beyond Luria's kabbalistic idea of zimzum that he had embraced in God in Creation. Here, Moltmann departs from panentheism, when he explains that zimzum means that god's self-contractions has created the empty space that pervades the universe. Moltmann goes beyond Luria by arguing that the empty spaces within god's self-contractions are not within god, but are actually spaces of non-being, and are the nihil (or nothingness) from which creation was created ex nihilo. Moltmann defends himself by quoting Pascal: "Pascal already acknowledged that 'the eternal silence of these infinite spaces frighten me.'" [4] and explains his departure from Luria as follows:

In my doctrine of creation, God in Creation [pp. 77ff], like many other theologians before me from Schelling to Emil Brunner, I took up the kabbalistic idea of Isaac Luria about zimzum—that is, God's self-limitation for the sake of creation. Now I'd like to go a step further. According to the Kabbalah, the Infinite One whose light originally filled all things, withdrew that eternal light, and by so doing created empty space—space, that is, empty of God. . . . Through the self-restriction of the Eternal One empty space comes into being—the nihil or nothingness in which the Creator can then call non-being into being. [5]

Moltmann is a reformed theologian, however his doctrine of zimzum provides for a theology of freedom similar to the scientia media (middle knowledge) of Molinism that will be loved by many, and rejected as semi-pelagianism by my Calvinist friends. I've had a love-hate relationship with Moltmann's concept of zimzum. It has the great strength of explaining the evolution of life, and the existence of creative spaces, from which live has flourished through through Darwinism without collapsing into nihilism. On the hand, the self-contraction of God in zimzum undermines the possibility for universal restoration of all life that Moltmann argues elsewhere such as in his essay on "The Logic of Hell" and this atypical emphasis on creaturely liberty is exemplified in the following quotation:

When God restricts himself so as to make room for his creation, this is an expression not of powerlessness but of almighty power. Only God can limit God. God is only almighty where there is nothing. . . . God has created beings with relative independence. By limiting his omnipotence, he has conferred the free spaces their freedom require. Because of the restriction of his omniscience he cannot foresee how those he has created will decide, and how they will develop. He leaves them time, and opens for them an unforeseeable future. So he waits for those he has created, and awaits them. He is curious about the path they will take, for they are his future. He learns from them. [6]

Source:

1. Moltmann, Jürgen. "The Origin and Completion of Time in the Primordial and in the Eschatological Moment." Science and Wisdom. Trans. M. Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003. 119. Print.

2. Ibid. 114.

3. Ibid. 119.

4. Ibid. 124.

5. Ibid. 119.

6. Ibid. 120.