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.