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Karl Barth
God’s Word in Action
Paul S. Chung
KARL BARTH
God’s Word in Action
Copyright © 2008 Paul S. Chung. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
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isbn 13: 978-1-55635-527-1
eisbn 13: 978-1-4982-7031-1
Cataloging-in-Publication data:
Chung, Sueng Hoon, 1958–
Karl Barth : God’s word in action / Paul S. Chung.
xvi + 504 p. ; 23 cm. —Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 13: 978-1-55635-527-1
1. Barth, Karl, 1886–1968. 2. Barth, Karl, 1886–1968—views on socialism. 3. Christianity and politics. 4. Religious pluralism. I. Titles.
bx4827. b3 c478 2008
Manufactured in the U.S.A.
This volume is dedicated in honor of Professor Dr. Friedrich -W. Marquardt (1928–2002) at the FU of West Berlin, and President and Professor Timothy F. Lull (1943–2003) at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, California.
The fact that God’s Word is God’s act means first its contingent contemporaneity. . . . The dogmatician, too, must think and speak in a particular age. . . . The problem of theology and dogmatics can be seen as wholly set within the framework of the problem of culture.
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, I/1:145, 283–84
Foreword
The famous words of old Barth, “God for the world, God for humanity, heaven for the earth,” can stand as a motto regarding this very clearly written and engaging book that marks and characterizes the life and theology of Karl Barth. Barth is without comparison as a twentieth-century theologian who has determined a field of theological discussion still present to date. In a knowledgeable and precise analysis, Paul S. Chung proposes the themes in which Barth’s theology has emerged, gained its profile, and initiated landmark decisions. In this analysis, Chung states that the churches need to have their orientation for Barth’s theology, not only in a national socialist Germany, but also in South Africa or Latin America in their most difficult crises. What is penetrated here in this book stretches from Barth’s confrontation with religious socialism (Ragaz) to his subsequent breakthrough of dialectical theology (“Tambach lecture”) and to two different editions of Romans via the first exciting encounter with Roman Catholicism (Przywara) to the century problem of natural theology (Brunner), and finally to the distinctive themes of Church Dogmatics (Christology, the church and Israel) and to openness toward ecumenicity in the face of religious pluralism. At this juncture, the difficult dogmatic problems are understandably discussed with great caution and care whether it is a debate over analogia entis, the role of extra Calvinisticum or the secret of the person of Christ (anhypostasis and enhypostasis).
What is most significant for me is that Chung is involved both knowledgeably and with daring evaluation and judgment in present-day scholarly discussions and debates about Karl Barth. Here, different interpretations such as those of Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt and Bruce McCormack, as well as the reservations of feminist theologians, are provocatively explicated. Furthermore, his study includes the controversially discussed relationship between Barth and Bonhoeffer and the pigeonholing charge of neo-orthodoxy. Chung’s arguments are not only of a historical or dogmatic-confessional nature. They include also the questions and problems of our present time. This makes Chung’s project a modern book and a great contribution that explicates the fascination and strength of Karl Barth, above all, articulating his intellectual achievement and profound humanity for our present-day reality in a new and fresh way.
Christian Link
University of Bochum, Germany
Acknowledgements
This book has a twofold task: first, it intends to clarify Barth’s keen interest in social and political realms in his early writings, prior to his dogmatic turn; and second, it seeks to deepen and actualize the political dimension of his dogmatic theology in regard to his theology of Israel and issues of theologia naturalis and religious pluralism.
In writing this project, I am indebted to Professor Eberhard Busch and his understanding of Karl Barth’s doctrine of Israel. I appreciate that he presented to me with the gift of his illuminating book Unter dem Bogen des einen Bundes: Karl Barth und die Juden 1933–1945 (1996). My sincere gratitude is likewise extended to Prof. Andreas Pangritz at the University of Bonn, Germany, a former assistant of Helmut Gollwitzer and Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt.
Furthermore, I express my gratitude to Prof. Bertold Klappert at Wupertal and Prof. Christian Link at Bochum. They kindly invited me to join the discussion of Barth’s theology with them during my research period at the University of Bonn, Germany, in June 2007. My gratitude also goes to Rev. Dr. Hans Ulrich Jäger in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, a Ragaz expert and follower of Ragaz’s practical way in the field of ministry, for deepening my understanding of the relation between Karl Barth and religious socialism. Prof. Peter Winzeler at the University of Bern made valuable comments on my understanding of the relation between Martin Luther and Karl Barth and helped me to understand Barth’s theology of creation from an ecological perspective. I am thankful to Prof. Raymond Carr for his proofreading and comments. My sincere gratitude is offered to the faculty of Wartburg Theological Seminary. I remain indebted to them for their encouragement and accompaniment of my theological journey, not only as Luther’s follower, but also as Barth’s student. I would like to thank T. & T. Clark and the Continuum International Publishing Group for permission to use selected texts from the following: Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, edited Geoffrey W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance, 1936–1962; Church Dogmatics I/1–IV/3, edited by Geoffrey W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance, first paperback edition, 2004. Used by permission of T. & T. Clark and the Continuum International Publishing Group. I also gratefully acknowledge receipt of the following:From Theologischer Verlag Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland) permission to cite from Karl Barth, Der Römerbrief (Erste Fasssung) 1919, edited by Hermann Schmidt, and F.-W. Marquardt, “Erster Bericht über Karl Barths ‘Sozialistische Reden’”; and from Oxford University Press (Oxford, England) permission to cite from Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, translated by Edwyn C. Hoskyns; and Bruce L. McCormack, Karl Barth’s Critically Realistic Dialectical Theology: Its Genesis and Development, 1909–1936.
Paul S. Chung
Dubuque, Iowa
Thanksgiving 2007
Introduction Karl Barth in the Context of Competing Interpretations
Karl Barth lived intensely. As a corollary, his theology can-not be adequately understood without reference to his life of social commitment. His thought-form is contextual and dynamic, sometimes repulsive. He was keen and open to modification, clarification, and correction in his theological trajectory. Barth, moreover, was not averse to self-critique and turnabout in his theological pilgrimage. Although there are many followers and movements of Barthianism, he remained hesitant and even averse to identifying himself with any form of “ism.” In Barth’s words we hear: “God is not identical with any ideology, and is not to be confused with such. Hence, conversion to Him is