Karl Barth: Theologian of Christian Witness

225 Pages·2004·1.653 MB·English

by  Joseph L. Mangina

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KARL BARTH
The thought of Karl Barth (1886–1968) has undergone a remarkable renewal
of interest in the past twenty years. Joseph Mangina’s Karl Barth:
Theologian of Christian Witness offers a concise, accessible guide to this
important Christian thinker. Uniquely among introductions to Barth, it also
highlights his significance for Christian ecumenism.
The first chapter describes Barth’s extraordinary life, from his youthful
break with liberalism during the First World War to his mature theology in
the Church Dogmatics. Subsequent chapters offer a detailed reading of this
magisterial work, and place Barth in dialogue with five contemporary
thinkers: George Lindbeck on revelation, Michael Wyschogrod on election,
Stanley Hauerwas on creation, Robert Jenson on reconciliation, and Henri de
Lubac on the church. These ecumenical conversations not only set Barth’s
thinking in greater relief, but serve to demonstrate its continuing theological
fruitfulness. The book concludes by examining Barth’s wider significance
for the church in our time.
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Great Theologians Series
Series Editors:
Revd Professor John Webster, University of Aberdeen, UK
Professor Trevor Hart, St Mary’s College, St Andrews, UK
Professor Douglas B. Farrow, McGill University, Canada
The Ashgate series, Great Theologians, presents a cluster of high profile
titles focusing on individual theologians from the ancients through to the
contemporary. The series includes a balance between important new
perspectives on major figures who have already received much research
attention in the past, and lesser-known theologians or those on whom there
has been little published to date. Offering a fresh approach to in-depth
theological studies, each book presents an accessible, stimulating new study
and comprehensive overview of the theologian and their writing, whilst
providing a detailed survey of the historic and contemporary international
research already undertaken from a range of different perspectives, and
analysing important trends of interpretation and research. This series is
intended to provide an invaluable and lasting resource at the upper level of
study and academic research.
Other titles in the series:
Thomas Aquinas
Theologian of the Christian Life
Nicholas M. Healy
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Karl Barth
Theologian of Christian Witness
JOSEPH L. MANGINA
Wycliffe College, Toronto
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First published 2 004 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright© 2004Joseph L. Man gina
Joseph L. Mangina has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
anyform or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented,including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system,without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used
only for identification and explanation without intent to in fringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Mangina, Joseph L.
Karl Barth: Theologian of Christian Witness. – (Great Theologians Series)
1.Barth, Karl, 1886–1968. I. Title
230’.092
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Mangina, Joseph L., 1957–
Karl Barth: Theologian of Christian Witness / Joseph L. Mangina.
p.cm. – (Great Theologians Series)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
1.Barth, Karl, 1886–1968. I. Title. II. Series.
BX4827.B3M29 2004
230’044’092–dc22
2003028022
ISBN 9780754600495 (hbk)
ISBN 9780754604587 (pbk)
Typeset by Express Typesetters Ltd, Farnham
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Contents
Preface vii
Introduction ix
1 The Laughter of the Angels: On Reading Barth 1
2 Speech and Mystery: Revelation 29
3 Lord of the Covenant: God 57
4 Heaven and Earth: Creation 87
5 Into the Far Country: Reconciliation 115
6 Christian Existence: Church and Ethics 143
7 The Finger of the Baptist: Barth and the Christian Witness 175
References 197
Index 205
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Preface
Writing an introduction to Barth’s theology is a daunting task. Among those
friends who gave early encouragement to this project, and who also
furnished some key ideas, are Reinhard Hütter, David Kelsey, and Kendall
Soulen. Everyone I consulted stressed the importance of readability,
especially for beginning students in theology. Everyone stressed that the
book should help students get into the text of the Church Dogmatics as
quickly as possible, so that they can form their own judgments; it is always
more profitable to read Barth than to read about him. I hope the following
pages attain these goals in at least a modest way.
I was able to begin the research and writing during a sojourn at the Center
of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, New Jersey, in the spring and summer of
2002. Thanks are due to Wallace Alston, at that time Director of the Center,
and to Robert Jenson, Senior Scholar in Residence, who patiently read my
early drafts. Fellow CTI members also provided much support and
encouragement as I worked my way through the Dogmatics. I am grateful for
the many lunchtime conversations, sometimes about people’s research,
sometimes about food, or church politics, or whatever happened to be in the
New York Times that morning. It is a good thing that theological
companionship does not always have to involve talking about theology.
Besides Dr Jenson, those who read portions of the manuscript at various
stages are George Coon, Garrett Green, Stanley Hauerwas, Reinhard Hütter,
Patrick McManus, Rusty Reno, Robin Darling Young, Philip Ziegler, and the
students in my Barth seminar in the spring of 2003. All provided insightful
and helpful criticism, and saved me from more than a few errors. I am
grateful for the able work of Amy Coon, George Coon, and Patrick
McManus in preparing the bibliography.
Wycliffe College and the Toronto School of Theology are where I hang
my hat as a theological teacher. George Sumner, Principal of Wycliffe, has
not only encouraged this project from the beginning, but has been generous
in providing some flexibility in my teaching schedule. One could hardly ask
for a better ‘dean’. Sarah Lloyd of Ashgate Publishing responded to my
many e-mail queries with unfailing cheerfulness and efficiency, as she
awaited a book that was very long in the coming. Also on the other side of
the Atlantic, Professor John Webster of the University of Aberdeen made
some helpful last-minute suggestions on matters of style and annotation.
My early-morning sessions at the computer were often interrupted by my
daughter Frances, the apple of her father’s eye. The pages that follow
incorporate an excellent idea she had for ‘Papa’s book’. Finally, a word of
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viii Karl Barth
thanks to my wife Elisa, sine qua non…. ‘Agood wife who can find? She is
far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her’
(Proverbs 31). I dedicate this work to her in love, gratitude, and affection.
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Introduction
As recently as a quarter-century ago, the theology of Karl Barth was widely
regarded as a thing of the past. He was thought to represent a particular
movement in modern Protestantism, often referred to as neo-orthodoxy or
the theology of crisis. This theology might, it was thought, have been
appropriate in the early twentieth century, when the experience of depression
and world war shook cultural confidence in human progress. But with the
passing of that era, Barth’s relevance seemed to decline accordingly. This
was especially true in the English-speaking world, where his reputation as a
dour Calvinist mainly concerned to deny all ‘points of contact’between God
and humankind has been hard to dispel.
It is striking, therefore, that the late years of the twentieth century saw a
major renaissance in Barth studies. It became more and more clear that the
Church Dogmatics represents one of the towering achievements of modern
Christian theology, and that it must be reckoned with even by those who
disagree with its premises. One reason for this is simply a matter of
perspective: at half a century’s remove, it is easier to see what Barth was
trying to accomplish than was possible during his lifetime. Asteady stream
of books, articles, and dissertations continues to illuminate his intellectual
development and his peculiar style of doing theology. All this increases the
chances that students will actually encounter the pipe-smoking, Mozart-
loving theologian from Basel, rather than the mythical creature often
associated with the name ‘Karl Barth’.
The rediscovery of Barth also reflects seismic shifts that have occurred in
the intellectual landscape over the past few decades. In the years following
World War Two, it was easy to dismiss him because his writing focused on
a text (the Bible) read in the context of a specific tradition and community
(that of the Christian church). This kind of approach simply did not seem
terribly relevant in a world of rapid social change; moreover, it was said that
Barth’s traditionalism failed to reflect ‘the’ experience of modern persons.
Such objections now seem curiously dated. In hindsight, one can see that the
traditioned character of Barth’s thought is what keeps it fresh and alive: he
engages the perennial questions of Christian thought (God, Christ, Trinity,
creation, sin, grace, the church) in a way that theologies merely seeking to
be ‘up to date’often do not. This is by no means to say that Barth ignored
the context in which he was writing; his strong political awareness, not just
in the Nazi era but in the time of the cold war, suggests quite otherwise. If
he did not actually say that one should have the Bible in one hand and the
daily newspaper in the other – a remark often attributed to him – the