The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth

2.05 MB·English

by  John Webster

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fir st published 2000
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data
The Cambridge companion to Karl Barth/|edited by] John Webster.
p. cm. - (Cambridge companions to religion)
Includes index.
ISBN 0521 584760-ISBN 0521 58560 o(pbk.)
1. Barth, Karl, 1886-1968. 1. Webster, |. B. (John Bainbridge), 1955 11. Series.
BX4827.B3 C26 2000
230'.044 092 - dc2i 99056882
ISBN o 521 58476 o hardback
ISBN 0521 585600 paperback
Contents
Notes on contributors
l'rrf,
Ahhrpvintinn<i xy.
î Introducing Barth 1
JOHN WEBSTER
2 Theology 17
CHHISTOj'H 8 C H W 0 It I; I.
3 Revelation 37
T K f. V O K H A K I
4 The Bible 57
FRANCIS WATSON
5 The Trinity 72
ALAN T|O R R A N C. F
6 Grace and being: the role of God's gracious election in Karl Barth's
theological ontology 92
BRUCE .MCCOKMACK
7 Creation and providence 111
KATHRYN TANNER
8 Karl Barth's Christology: its basic Chalcedonian character 127
GEORGE HWNSINCE R
9 Salvation 143
CQL1N GUNTQN
10 The humanity of the human person in Karl Barth's
anthropology 159
WOLF KJROTKE
V
vi Contents
11 The mediator of communion: Karl Barth's doctrine of the Holy
Spirit 177
GEORGE HUNSINGER
12 Christian community, baptism, and Lord's Supper 195
JAMES J. BUCKLEY
13 Barth's trinitarian ethic 212
NIG F.I. BIG GAR
14 Karl Barth and politics 228
WILLIAM WERPEHOWSKI
15 Religion and the religions 243
). A. D 1 NQIA, P.P.
16 Barth and feminism 258
•CATHERINE SONOEREGGER
17 Barth, modernity, and postmodernity ^74
t. R A H A M WARD
18 Karl Barth: a personal engagement 296
ALASDAIR I. C. HERON
Index 307
Notes on contributors
NIGEL BIGGAR is Professor of Theology, university of Leeds. An expert on
Barth's ethical thinking, he has written The Hastening That Waits. Karl
Barth's Ethics (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993, 1995) and edited a centenary
collection of studies of Barth, Reckoning with Barth (Oxford; Mowbray,
1988).
JAMHS BUCKLEY is Professor of Theology, Loyola College in Maryland, and
an editor of Modern Theology. Among his publications is an important study
of themes in Barth's doctrine of the church, and Seeking the Humanity of
God (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1992).
j. AUGUSTINE DI NO!A is Professor of Theology, Dominican House of
Studies, Washington, DC, and has written widely on doctrinal and inter-
religious topics. He is the author of 77ie Diversity of Religions: A Christian
Perspective (Washington: Catholic University Press of America, 1992), and
editor of The Thomist.
COLÍN GUNTON is Professor of Christian Doctrine, King's College, Univer
sityof London. One of the most prominent British doctrinal theologians, he
has written many books on systematic theology, especially on the place of
the doctrine of the Trinity in Christian thought. He has also published
widely on Barth's thought, notably in Becoming and Being (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1978).
TREVOR HART has taught theology in Aberdeen and is currently Professor
of Divinity, University of St Andrews. He has edited and contributed to
volumes on modern theologians such as P. T. Forsyth and |urgcn Moltmann,
and has published a series of studies of Barth entitled Regarding Karl Barth
(Carlisle: Paternoster, 1999).
ALASDAIR 1. c. HERON has held posts in Tubingen, Dublin and Edinburgh,
and is Professor of Reformed Theology, University of Erlangen. A notable
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vili Notes on contributors
ecumenist and historian of modern theology, he is the author of A Century of
Protestant Theology (Guildford: Lutterworth, 1980), Table and Tradition
(Edinburgh: Handsel, 1983) and The Holy Spirit (London: Marshall, 1983).
In 1999 he delivered the Hensley Henson lectures at Oxford on the theology
of Barth.
CEORGE HUNSINCER is Director of the Center for Barth Studies, Princeton
Theological Seminary. A leading interpreter of Barth's theology, he edited
Karl Barth and Radical Politics (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976) and has
published How to Read Karl Barth (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991),
and Disruptive Grace (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000).
WOLF KROTKE is Professor of Systematic Theology, at the Humboldt Uni
versity of Berlin, has written widely on the situation of Christian theology in
Europe and the theological legacy of Barth and Bonhoeffer. He is author of
Siinde und Nichtiges bei Karl Barth (Berlin: Evangelische Verlag, 1970).
BRUCE MCCORMACK is Frederick and Margaret L. Weyerhauser Professor
of Systematic Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary. His highly-
acclaimed study Karl Barth's Critically Realistic Dialectical Theology. Its
Genesis and Development ¡000-1036 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995) re
vised much previous thinking on the development of Barth's thought. He
was awarded the Karl Barth Prize in 1998.
CHRISTOPH SCHWOBEL has previously taught in London and Kiel, and is
now Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Ecumenical
Institute, University of Heidelberg. He has written widely on constructive
Christian theology, as well as on German theology of the earlier twentieth
century, and has edited the correspondence of Barth and Martin Rade (Karl
Barth - Martin Rade, fin Briefwechsel (Gütersloh: Mohn, 1981)).
KATHERINE soNDEREGGER is Professor of Religion, Middlebury College,
and the author of TTIÍJÍ Jesus Christ Was Born a few: Karl Barth's "Doctrine of
Israel" (University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992).
KATHRYN TANNER is Associate Professor of Theology, University of
Chicago Divinity School, having previously taught at Yale. As well as articles
on issues in modern Christian thought and its relation to critical and social
theory, she has written God and Creation in Christian Theology (Oxford:
Blackwell, 1988), The Politics of God (Minneapolis; Fortress, 1992) and
Theories of Culture (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997).
Notes on contributors ix
ALAN TORRANCE is Professor of Systematic Theology, University of St
Andrews, having previously taught in Aberdeen, New Zealand and London.
His book Persons in Communion (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1996) offers a
reading of Barth's earlier doctrine of the Trinity.
GRAHAM WARD is Professor of Contextual Theology and Ethics, University
of Manchester, and formerly Dean of Peterhousc, Cambridge. He is especial
ly interested in the relation of Christianity and postmodernism, and has
written Barth, Derrida and the Language of Theology (Cambridge: Cam
bridge University Press, 1995).
FRANCIS WATSON is Professor of New Testament Exegesis, University of
Aberdeen; he previously taught in London. An important figure in the
recent renewal of theological interpretation of Scripture, his published work
includes Text, Church and World (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1994) and Text
and Truth (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1997).
)OHN WEBSTER is Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ
Church, University of Oxford; he previously taught in Durham and Toronto.
He has written widely on modern systematic theology, especially the work
of Eberhard Jiingel; his work on Barth includes Barth's Ethics of Reconcili
ation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995) and Barth's Moral
Theology (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1998). He is an editor of the Interna
tional Journal of Systematic Theology.
WILLIAM WERPEHOWSKI is Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and
Director of the Center for Peace and Justice Education, Villanova University.
He has published important articles on the interpretation of Barth's ethical
and political thought, and co-edited The Love Commandments (Washington,
DC: Georgetown University Press, 1992) and The Essential Paul Ramsey
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994).
Preface
The work of Barth is central to modern Western theology, both historical
and constructive. Although in German speaking theological circles Barth's
significance has rarely been denied (even when his theological convictions
have been vigorously disputed), it has suffered from some neglect in
English speaking theological circles until fairly recently. Yet over the last
twenty years or so, interest in Barth's work has begun to flourish here, and a
considerable number of significant studies of his theology have appeared,
often in dialogue with the best leading Barth scholarship in Germany.
As a result, Barth is once again a major voice in contemporary systematic
theology; indeed, the revival of constructive doctrinal thinking in
English-language theology often owes a good deal to the stimulus of Barth's
work.
Taken together, the essays in this Companion seek to map out and assess
Barth's contribution to Christian thinking, especially with the perspective
on his theology which can now be gained just over thirty years after his
death. They are written by scholars who not only have established reputa
tions as commentators upon and interpreters of the work of Barth, but also
have an interest in promoting the kind of constructive engagement with the
doctrinal legacy of the Christian church which he himself exemplified in
magisterial fashion. After an introduction to Barth's life and the character of
his work, the various chapters identify key themes in his theology, offering
an analytical account of his writing in each area, and alerting the reader both
to the main lines of critical conversation with Barth's thinking and to the
resources he offers for contemporary Christian thought. The themes of the
chapters coyer most of the major doctrinal topics which Barth handled in
the Church Dogmatics and, in addition, draw together his thinking on such
topics as religion and politics, as well as looking at him in relation to specific
modern preoccupations such as feminism and postmodernism. Though the
authors are diverse in their interpretation of Barth's writings, in their
assessment of his significance, and in the critical judgments they bring to
XJ
Abbreviations
CD K. Barth, Church Dogmatics (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. 1956-75).
ChrL K. Barth, The Christian Life. Church Dogmatics IV/4. Lecture
Fragments. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1981).
GD K. Barth, The Cottingen Dogmatics, instruction in the Christian
Religion, vol. I (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1991).
KD K. Barth, Die Kirchliche Dogmatik (Zurich: TVZ Verlag, 1932-67).
PT Protestant Theology in the Nineteenth Century. Its Background and
History (London: SCM, 1972).
R K. Barth, The Epistle to the Romans (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1933).
xiti