The Interruption of the Cross

Dehumanized man, who must exalt himself, because he cannot ensure himself as he is, in practice uses religious…insights only in the interest of self-deification. As a result they do not help him achieve humanity, but only give greater force to his inhumanity. The knowledge of the cross is the knowledge of God in the suffering caused to him by dehumanized man, that is, in the contrary of everything which dehumanized man seeks and tries to attain as the deity in him. Consequently, this knowledge does not confirm him as what he is, but destroys him. It destroys the god, miserable in his pride, which we would like to be, and restores to us our abandoned and despised humanity. The knowledge of the cross brings a conflict of interest between God who has become man, and man who wishes to become God. It destroys the destruction of man. It alienates alienated man. And in this way it restores the humanity of dehumanized man. It shows his essential weakness without God

--Jürgen Moltmann The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology trans. R. A. Wilson and John Bowden (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993 ed.) p.71