Beruf and Berufung in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics: Toward a Subversive Klesiology

Abstract:   This article explores Karl Barth's understanding of calling in relation to vocation as found primarily within the Church Dogmatics . Its novel aspect resides in the methodological decision to read Barth's treatment of Berufung explicated in volume IV/3.2 in light of his critical distinction between Beruf and Berufung in volume III/4. Such a move is salutary considering the discursive nature of Barth's systematic thought progression within the Dogmatics , but it also offers much to explain the themes treated in the later volume, which do not fall specifically under the umbrella of vocation. Barth is not offering a doctrine of vocation ( Beruf ), but rather a doctrine of calling ( Berufung ), which brings implications residing in how one reads this section of the Dogmatics as well as in the possibility of constructing a theology of calling, an enterprise I call klesiology.     

In Defence of Karl Barth's Doctrine of the Trinity

Two common complaints against Barth's doctrine of the Trinity are here addressed. First it is argued that Barth's adoption of the term Seinsweise , or 'mode of being' to refer to the trinitarian persons is not in any way a departure from the traditional doctrine. Second, the suggestion that Barth's doctrine shifts over the course of the Dogmatics is examined and refuted.     

Speculating about Divinity? God's Immanent Life and Actualistic Ontology

This article argues that counterfactual statements concerning God's life in himself are both theologically informative and genuinely warranted by Karl Barth's notion of God's 'being-in-act' as presented in § 28.1 of the Church Dogmatics. To this end, the proposed reading aims to mitigate recent emphases on divine Entscheidung as the primary category for construing Barth's theological ontology. Without offering a resolution to alleged 'tensions' in Barth's doctrine of God, the author nevertheless suggests that there are good reasons to prefer certain streams of Barth's thought to others, with the notion of God's love offered as a test case.     

Creative Reappropriation: Barth's Use of Calvin in the Münster Ethics (1928/29)

This article demonstrates Calvin's impact upon Barth's ethics through a close reading of Barth's MÏnster lectures on ethics. Already in these early lectures Barth insisted on the coherence of dogmatic and ethical reflection, and developed the basic structure and some characteristic themes of his mature ethical reflection in the Church Dogmatics . By showing the ways in which Barth was influenced by Calvin in these formative first ethics lectures the case is made that a thorough understanding of Calvin's theology is necessary for a correct appreciation of Barth's ethics and of his theology as a whole.     

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Karl Barth and the Historicization of God's Being

Abstract:  In the excurses of Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics IV/1, Barth invests the resurrection with greater ontological significance than is typically acknowledged in contemporary accounts of his mature theology. In this article, I systematically develop the numerous statements in CD IV/1 in which Barth conceptualizes the resurrection as the historical fulfillment of God's eternal being. Subsequently, I identify the similitude between Barth's theology of the resurrection and Hegel's as presented in his Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion. The article closes by suggesting that the similitude between Barth's view and Hegel's may include points of material correspondence.     

Eros and Agape in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics

This analysis of agape and eros in the Church Dogmatics argues that although there are real difficulties with Barth's development of these concepts in the Dogmatics , a careful reading of the material suggests that these difficulties are not so serious as may first appear and may be overcome. This interpretative work also facilitates a dialogue between Barth and two contemporary ethicists working on the concept of Christian love, a dialogue in which Barth proves to be a worthy and rewarding partner.     

The Stranger as Sacrament: Karl Barth and the Ethics of Ecclesial Practice>

Recent theology has devoted attention to ecclesial practices as a matrix for ethical reflection. Barth stands in ambivalent relation to these developments. On the one hand, Barth urges consideration of the relation of church practice to the gospel of divine action; on the other, Barth's christocentric account of ethics might be corrected by an ethics of ecclesial practice. The ambivalence is explored in an interpretation of Barth's account of the ministry of the Christian community in Church Dogmatics IV/3 and of his treatment of love of one's neighbour in I/2.     

Religious Diversity, Christian Doctrine and Karl Barth

Abstract:   The recognition of the heterogeneity of the goals of the world's religions has led to a greater alertness to the doctrinal questions raised by the presence of truth and rectitude which Christians might recognize in the other religions. In this article J.A. DiNoia's proposals for the recognition of subordinate and non-oppositional truths in the other religions, and his more recent defence of Barth's account of the religions in Church Dogmatics §17, are brought into dialogue with Karl Barth's account of truth extra muros ecclesiae in CD §69. It is argued that the latter raises a number of crucial doctrinal questions for DiNoia's own proposal for the recognition of subordinate and non-oppositional truth, and that it is a more important resource for contemporary discussions than is the controversial CD §17.     

Reviews

Books reviewed:
David Fergusson and Nigel Dower (eds.), John Macmurray: Critical Perspectives
F. LeRon Shults, Reforming Theological Anthropology: After the Philosophical Turn to Relationality
Alan P.F. Sell, Confessing and Commending the Faith: Historic Witness and Apologetic Method
Daniel J. Price, Karl Barth's Anthropology in the Light of Modern Thought
Gerhard Sauter, Gateways to Dogmatics: Reasoning Theologically for the Life of the Church     

The Form of the Matter: Heidegger, Ontology and Christian Ethics

Martin Heidegger's late thought on technology raises a potent set of observations regarding the relationship of technology and ontology. Oliver O'Donovan is shown to have similar concerns to Heidegger on this topic, concerns which he addresses from within a theological framework which places technological making within the guiding role of created order. Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics II/1 account of the perfections of God is applied to sharpen O'Donovan's account of natural knowledge, clarifying the relation between natural and redeemed understandings of the normativity of the form of matter.     

Storming Heaven with Karl Barth? Barth's Unwitting Appropriation of the Genus Maiestaticum and what Lutherans Can Learn from It

Abstract:  This article seeks to demonstrate that Barth radically misunderstands the Lutheran doctrine of the communication of attributes, with its centerpiece the genus maiestaticum . However, misdirected as Barth's criticism is, the doctrine is not without its own problems and, instead of giving expression to the integrity of Christ's person and the co-presence of his natures, is in danger of subverting itself. After showing that Barth's Christology actually employs what for all practical purposes is the majestic genus of the Lutherans, I propose that the Swiss theologian's thought may offer ways of resolving the tensions inherent in the Lutheran tenet, and that by means of resources that the Lutherans already possess.     

Karl Barth's Christology as a Resource for a Reformed Version of Kenoticism

Abstract:  This article starts by examining the 'shift' in thinking on kenosis from the sixteenth-century doctrine established by Lutheran orthodoxy to the nineteenth-century understanding developed by Gottfried Thomasius. Karl Barth's understanding of 'kenotic Christology' was largely controlled by the nineteenth-century definition and, as a result, he rejected it. However, Barth's later treatment of the incarnation in CD IV/I provides resources for taking up the language of kenosis in a positive way that would be thoroughly 'Reformed' in character. There are considerable theological gains to be made by such an approach.     

Divine Transcendence, Religious Pluralism and Barth's Doctrine of God

Abstract:  Pluralists such as John Hick frequently argue that the transcendence, mystery and ineffability of 'God' provide the grounds on which a pluralistic interpretation of religion should be embraced. In this article the author explores the possibility that certain contemporary accounts of divine transcendence, consciously indebted to Karl Barth, may implicitly open the door to Hick's line of argument. After identifying four reasons why Barth's own account of transcendence ( Church Dogmatics II/1) resists a pluralist appropriation, the author examines two contemporary proposals: William Placher's The Domestication of Transcendence and Stacy Johnson's The Mystery of God . He contends that, unlike Barth, the accounts of God's transcendence proposed by these two theologians implicitly open the door to Hick's line of argument.     

Barth's 'Other' Doctrine of Election in the Church Dogmatics

Abstract:  In the Göttingen Dogmatics Barth gives an account of the doctrine of election which differs radically from that which he will go on to develop after 1936. This article contends that more consideration needs to be given to the presence of this earlier understanding of election in CD I/1 and 2, both with regard to its influence on the presentation of key loci within these volumes and to the tensions created in the unfolding of major themes before and after his christological reorientation of the doctrine.     

Much Ado about Nothing: Karl Barth's Being Unable to Do Nothing about Nothingness

Often a source of concern to commentators about the adequacy of Barth's theology is his treatment of evil, in particular Church Dogmatics III/3 §50 with its depiction of evil as das Nichtige (the nothingness). Against the impression that Barth has little time in his systematic theology for doing justice to evil it is worth attempting a reading that indicates the importance of this section and what it seems that Barth is doing with it. Das Nichtige belongs to a conflictual and dramatic account, and talk of its, for Barth, 'absurd'existence' belongs there. The dramatic flavour of this discussion further impresses that there is more to be said about 'Barth on evil' than any focus on the paradoxical and negative language used to depict it could express – this 'more' should come specifically through ethics.     

Karl Barth and the concursus Dei – A Chalcedonianism Too Far?

Abstract:  This article considers the account in the work of Karl Barth of the concursus Dei – that part of the doctrine of providence which deals with the fatherly lordship of God as it accompanies the free activity of the creature. In recent Barth literature, the term 'Chalcedonian' has regularly been used to describe Barth's construal of the concursus Dei , on the basis of the christocentric derivation of his doctrine of providence. Nevertheless, this article suggests that this particular use of christological vocabulary is unhelpful, and concludes that, on historical, material and methodological grounds, the term 'Chalcedonian' in this context should be avoided.     

A Mirror for God and for Us: Christology and Exegesis in Calvin's Doctrine of Election

Although John Calvin's doctrine of election is often criticized, it remains seriously under-described in both content and form. By attending to one strand of its content (Christ and election), and one persistently unappreciated aspect of its form (exegesis), this article attempts a substantial construal of the doctrine in Calvin's theology. It aims to show that, for Calvin, Christ is the subject of election in that he is its author, and Christ is the object of election in that he mediates both election itself and the salvation which flows from election. The focus on Calvin's exegesis of election and Christology establishes contact points with some important theological concerns: Karl Barth's reading of Calvin; election and the extra Calvinisticum ; and 'christocentrism' in Calvin's theology.     

Faith as Self-Understanding: Towards a Post-Barthian Appreciation of Rudolf Bultmann

Abstract:  The tradition of post-Barthian systematic theology has consistently criticized Rudolf Bultmann's doctrine of faith. Following Barth's critique, contemporary theologians have argued that Bultmann's concept of faith as self-understanding undermines the reality of God and reduces theology to anthropology. This article argues that such arguments rest on a misreading of Bultmann. Far from anthropologizing theological knowledge, Bultmann identifies faith with self-understanding precisely in order to maintain the distinctiveness of God's reality. According to Bultmann, the locus of all true knowledge of God is the living christological event of divine–human encounter in which God is both related to and differentiated from humanity. This conception of God and faith remains relevant, and it offers valuable resources to theological reflection today.     

Explorations in a Theological Metaphor: Boethius,Calvin, and Torrance on the Creator/Creation Distinction

This article explores a theological metaphor, comparing God and creation to an author and story. Framed as an Einsteinian thought experiment, and broadly in the genre of theological retrieval, it seeks to resource the use of this metaphor in contemporary theology by bringing it into dialogue with three areas of theological reflection throughout church history: Boethius' doctrine of divine foreknowledge, the so‐called extra Calvinisticum, and Thomas Torrance's account of Christ's ascension. It is suggested that the story metaphor brings into greater visibility what unites and determines each of these different doctrines, namely, a simultaneously robust and dynamic Creator/creation relation. In particular, it is suggested that the metaphor of story illumines the ontological priority of God over creation, as well as the importance of the incarnation and ascension as the determining events for their relationship.