And the winner is: Jürgen Moltmann!

Despite the expected complaints issued at the judge (as I said early on, like FIFA, I may be sligthly evil, but it is I who run things), I can now declare Jürgen Moltmann the outstanding winner of the World Cup of Modern Systematic Theologians 2006!

Jürgen won four of the five polled categories as well as the over-all vote. (Nearly 100 people voted in the polls!) von Balthasar's works was considered by the majority to have a more timeless quality, but in spite of this, Moltmanns relevance for his age, as well as his impact on church and academia was considered to be more significant. See the results of the polls here. (Can anybody explain the very geographical clarity with which our American friends seem to have voted?)

Moltmann's way to the Victory was impressive. After winning his group with the highest margin in the field he went on to beat no lesser theologians than Congar, Ratzinger and Rahner in the finals. There must be some irritation among a certain kind of catholics about this. ;) That said, v. Balthasar did manage to beat protestant superstars Frei, Pannenberg and Jenson in his finals, which is a good example, IMO of the impressive ecumenical spirit that has been present throughout the Tournament. For a overview of the latter half of the Tournament, see the Tournament Brackets.

There were also a prediction competition during the tournament. This competition was won by David Scott who succeeded to correctly predict all games but one. According to the rules of that competion, David's price is a post with a link from all those that participated in the prediction competition. As soon as I receive info on whether David has a blog and where it is found I will fulfill my part of the agreement.

Finally, before the return of the regular programming on this blog (stay tuned for the sacrament of the eucharist in the context of a declining culture), I would like to thank everyone involved in voting and commenting. I have learned a lot, and I hope this is true for others as well. I'd especially like to thank my two "commentators" One of Freedom and Scott Paeth, who have been running regular features about the tournament on their blogs, as well as everyone else who have helped to spread the word about it.

Congratulations to Jürgen Moltmann, first ever winner of the World Cup for Modern Systematic Theologians!