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Barth’s Speculative Theology and the Kirchliche Dogmatik

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Abstract

I pursue my findings from the previous chapter through an analysis of the first volumes of the Kirchliche Dogmatik, narrowing in on freedom as a divine attribute in light of Barth’s speculative theology. I take my cues in part from Barth’s reflections on the affirmative aspect of the theological use of reason in light of the freedom of God and his brief exploration of the beauty of God, also found in the account of the attributes of divine freedom in Kirchliche Dogmatik II,1. Finally, I argue that the art of Caspar David Friedrich can serve as a visual accompaniment to Barth’s speculative theology.

Now, my soul, rouse and lift up your whole understanding and think as much as you can on what kind and how great this good is.

Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion 24

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Karl Barth, Kirchliche Dogmatik II,1 (Zollikon: Evangelischer Verlag AG., 1958), 1; Church Dogmatics II,1 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1957), 4.

  2. 2.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 1; Dogmatics II, 1, 3.

  3. 3.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 2; Dogmatics II, 1, 4.

  4. 4.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 3; Dogmatics II, 1, 5.

  5. 5.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 3; Dogmatics II, 1, 5.

  6. 6.

    “… The fulfilling of the knowledge of God with which we are concerned most certainly does not rest on a free choice of this or that object, of this or that ‘God’ [dieses oder jenes “Gottes”]. It must be established at once from the knowledge of God with which we are concerned that everything that is described as ‘God’ on the basis of a free choice cannot possibly be God …” Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 5; Dogmatics II,1, 5/6.

  7. 7.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 5; Dogmatics II,1, 7.

  8. 8.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 5ff; Dogmatics II,1, 7.

  9. 9.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 6–8; Dogmatics II,1, 7–9.

  10. 10.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 15ff; Dogmatics II,1, 16.

  11. 11.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 52ff; Dogmatics II,1, 49.

  12. 12.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 16; Dogmatics II,1, 16.

  13. 13.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 291; Dogmatics II,1, 260.

  14. 14.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 22; Dogmatics II,1, 21.

  15. 15.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 55 Dogmatics II,1, 51.

  16. 16.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 27; Dogmatics II,1, 26.

  17. 17.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 237; Dogmatics II,1, 211.

  18. 18.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 306; Dogmatics II,1, 273.

  19. 19.

    “The fact that He makes Himself visible in this name is the solution to the tautology. From this name we have to conclude what and how He is in His act and therefore in His being: what is divine, what is the character of Him who is God, what makes God God, what therefore His ‘essence’ is. The fact that we cannot go behind His livingness for a definition of His being means in fact that we cannot go behind this name of His, because in the very revelation of His name there occurs the act which is His being to all eternity.” Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 306; Dogmatics II,1, 273.

  20. 20.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 307; Dogmatics II,1, 273.

  21. 21.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 334ff; Dogmatics II,1, 297ff.

  22. 22.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 335; Dogmatics II,1, 298.

  23. 23.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 338ff; Dogmatics II,1, 301.

  24. 24.

    “… [It is His freedom] not merely to be in the differentiation of His being from its being, but to be in Himself the One who can have and hold communion with this reality, as in fact He does, in spite of His utter distinction from it” (Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 342; Dogmatics II,1, 304).

  25. 25.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 342; Dogmatics II,1, 304.

  26. 26.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 342; Dogmatics II,1, 304ff.

  27. 27.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 343; Dogmatics II,1, 305.

  28. 28.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 343; Dogmatics II,1, 305.

  29. 29.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 353, 355; Dogmatics II,1, 314, 315.

  30. 30.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 345; Dogmatics II,1, 306.

  31. 31.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 344; Dogmatics II,1, 306.

  32. 32.

    “[I]f God is, it is the effect of His freedom, which knows no necessity, no inevitability, no straitness. The fact that He is … does, of course settle the fact that He exists and does not not exist. He cannot even not exist. He cannot even be thought not to exist [dass er ist und also nicht nicht ist, ja nicht einmal nicht sein kann, ja also nicht-seiend nicht einmal gedacht werden kann]” (Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 345; Dogmatics II,1, 307).

  33. 33.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 346; Dogmatics II,1, 308.

  34. 34.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 350; Dogmatics II,1, 311.

  35. 35.

    “He is free to maintain as God His distance from the creature and equally free to enter into partnership with it, indeed, to lift the creature itself, in the most vigorous sense, into unity with His own divine being, with Himself. God is free to rule over the world in supreme majesty and likewise to serve in the world as the humblest and meanest of servants, free even to be despised in the world, and rejected by the world. God is free to clothe Himself with the life of the world in all its glory as with a garment; but free likewise Himself to die the death which symbolizes the end of all things earthly, in utter abandonment and darkness” (Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 354; Dogmatics II,1, 315).

  36. 36.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 354; Dogmatics II,1, 315 (Barth’s emphasis).

  37. 37.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 355; Dogmatics II,1, 316.

  38. 38.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 361; Dogmatics II,1, 321.

  39. 39.

    Karl Barth, Kirchliche Dogmatik II,2 (Zürich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 1980), viii; Church Dogmatics II,2 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), x.

  40. 40.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 1ff; Dogmatics II,2, 3ff.

  41. 41.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 3ff; Dogmatics II,2, 5.

  42. 42.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 20; Dogmatics II,2, 20.

  43. 43.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 22; Dogmatics II,2, 22 (Barth’s emphasis).

  44. 44.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 20; Dogmatics II,2, 20 (Barth’s emphasis).

  45. 45.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 6; Dogmatics II,2, 7.

  46. 46.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 6; Dogmatics II,2, 7.

  47. 47.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 102; Dogmatics II,2, 95.

  48. 48.

    Very briefly, Barth’s argument in his exegesis of the Johannine prologue is that the Word of God mentioned in the first verse is identical to the human being, Jesus of Nazareth. The use of a specific form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos with the perfect form of einai in verses two and fifteen make this connection explicit. This means that when we read of the Word that was in the beginning, we do not need to conjure up theories about what this Word stands for with reference to philosophical or mythological ideologies or worldviews (Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 104; Dogmatics II,2, 97). The Word in the beginning is the human Jesus of Nazareth as the form of God’s self-revelation, self-affirmation , and self-communication. “Over against all that is really outside God, Jesus Christ is the eternal will of God, the eternal decree of God and the eternal beginning of God” (Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 106; Dogmatics II,2, 99).

  49. 49.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 157; Dogmatics II,2, 146.

  50. 50.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 158; Dogmatics II,2, 146.

  51. 51.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 158; Dogmatics II,2, 146.

  52. 52.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 160; Dogmatics II,2, 147.

  53. 53.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 160; Dogmatics II,2, 147.

  54. 54.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 161; Dogmatics II,2, 148.

  55. 55.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 163; Dogmatics II,2, 150.

  56. 56.

    “As we understand the freedom of the predestinating God, it does not deny but opens itself to our knowledge. And it is this positive understanding which constitutes our deviation from tradition, the ‘innovation’ made in our thesis … God is the self-revealing God, and as such He is the electing God. The eternal will of God which is before time is the same as the eternal will of God which is above time, and which reveals itself as such and operates as such in time. In fact, we perceive the one in the other. God’s eternity is one. God Himself is one. He may only be known either altogether or not at all. When He is known He is known all at once and altogether” (Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 169ff; Dogmatics II,2, 156).

  57. 57.

    Bruce L. McCormack , “Grace and Being: The Role of God’s Gracious Election in Karl Barth’s Theological Ontology,” from Orthodox and Modern: Studies in the Theology of Karl Barth (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 193.

  58. 58.

    Ibid., 188.

  59. 59.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,2, 168f; Dogmatics II,2, 155.

  60. 60.

    McCormack, “Grace and Being,” 194 (McCormack’s emphasis).

  61. 61.

    I must admit that I am not exactly sure how McCormack uses the term “logical” in this context. If the argument is that I know X because Y, and therefore Y is necessarily the ground of X, this does not appear to be an argument based on logical necessity.

  62. 62.

    McCormack, “Grace and Being,” 183 (McCormack’s emphasis).

  63. 63.

    As I have pointed out earlier, McCormack does refer to the Holy Spirit as the subjective source of the recognition that Jesus Christ is the sole source of knowledge of things divine. The problem is that this supposed intervention by the Spirit remains purely subjective and immediate. For all we know and can say, its expression is the same as any given subjective commitment undertaken in a completely undetermined, and therefore arbitrary, vacuum.

  64. 64.

    Barth, Dogmatik I,1, 272; Dogmatics I,1, 258.

  65. 65.

    Barth: “In virtue of this similarity our possibility of knowing God’s Word is the possibility of a clear and certain knowledge, not equal but at least similar to the clarity and certainty with which God knows Himself in His Word” (Barth, Dogmatik I,1, 256; Dogmatics I,1, 243).

  66. 66.

    Barth, Dogmatik I,1, 257; Dogmatics I,1, 244.

  67. 67.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 371; Dogmatics II,1, 330.

  68. 68.

    I. A. Dorner , System der Christliche Glaubenslehre I (Berlin: Verlag von Wilhelm Herk, 1879), 186.

  69. 69.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 372; Dogmatics II,1, 330.

  70. 70.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 554; Dogmatics II,1, 493.

  71. 71.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 556; Dogmatics II,1,495.

  72. 72.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 579; Dogmatics II,1, 515.

  73. 73.

    G. C. Berkouwer, Der Triumph der Gnade in der Theologie Karl Barths (Neukirchen Kreis Moers: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Erziehingsvereins, 1957), 13.

  74. 74.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 732; Dogmatics II,1, 649.

  75. 75.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 723; Dogmatics II,1, 641.

  76. 76.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 733; Dogmatics II,1, 650.

  77. 77.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 733; Dogmatics II,1, 650.

  78. 78.

    “It turns on the question of the form—and only on the question of the form!—of revelation” (Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 739; Dogmatics II,1, 655).

  79. 79.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 733ff; Dogmatics II,1, 650.

  80. 80.

    Barth also calls theology “the most beautiful of all the sciences” (Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 740; Dogmatics II,1, 656).

  81. 81.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 736; Dogmatics II,1, 652.

  82. 82.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 736; Dogmatics II,1, 653.

  83. 83.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 738ff; Dogmatics II,1, 655.

  84. 84.

    “The aesthetic appeals to the human being as a whole insofar as it is a field that brings together all of that being’s higher capacities to work or, should one say play, together.” Eli Friedlander, Expressions of Judgment: An Essay on Kant’s Aesthetics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015), 10.

  85. 85.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 741; Dogmatics II,1, 657 (Barth’s emphasis).

  86. 86.

    Ibid.

  87. 87.

    “… Jedes System sprengend …” (Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 742; Dogmatics II,1, 658).

  88. 88.

    Ibid.

  89. 89.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 743; Dogmatics II,1, 659.

  90. 90.

    Friedlander, Expressions of Judgment, 43.

  91. 91.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 745; Dogmatics II,1, 661.

  92. 92.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 746ff; Dogmatics II,1, 662.

  93. 93.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 748; Dogmatics II,1, 663.

  94. 94.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 748ff; Dogmatics II,1, 664.

  95. 95.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 749; Dogmatics II,1, 664.

  96. 96.

    Karl Barth, Karl Barth Gesamtausgabe—Fides quaerens intellectum: Anselms Beweis für die Existenz Gottes, 1931, ed. Eberhard Jüngel & Ingolf U. Dalferth, (Zürich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 1981), 13; Fides Quaerens Intellectum: Anselm’s Proof of the Existence of God in the Context of his Theological Scheme, (London: SCM Press, 1960), 15.

  97. 97.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 740; Dogmatics II,1, 656.

  98. 98.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 751; Dogmatics II,1, 666.

  99. 99.

    Joseph Leo Koerner , The Reformation of the Image (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2008).

  100. 100.

    Ibid., 11.

  101. 101.

    Joseph Leo Koerner , Caspar David Friedrich and the Subject of Landscape (London: Reaktion Books, 2014), 300.

  102. 102.

    Ibid., 90 (author’s emphasis).

  103. 103.

    Ibid., 103.

  104. 104.

    Ibid., 122.

  105. 105.

    Ibid., 22.

  106. 106.

    Ibid.

  107. 107.

    Karl Barth, Protestant Theology in the Nineteenth Century (London: SCM Press, 2001), 368.

  108. 108.

    Koerner , Friedrich, 29.

  109. 109.

    Barth, Dogmatik II,1, 730; Dogmatics II,1, 647.

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  1. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Sigurd Baark

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Baark, S. (2018). Barth’s Speculative Theology and the Kirchliche Dogmatik . In: The Affirmations of Reason. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70793-8_7

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