Karl Barth's Political Views in the Context of "Dialectical Theology"
Roosevelt, Amie
This paper considers Karl Barth's perspective of the political
and social issues of his time as an expression of the extention of
his theological thought to his social responsibility. First, I
consider the issue that was central for all Europeans in the
nineteen-thirties-- the "Third Reich." Barth understood this
phenomenon as a theological anomaly. His belief that the source of
the Nazis' evil was religious compelled him too denounce them. They
competed with the Church, and almost succeeded in replacing it with
a substítute, Nazi Church. It wras this realization which spurred
Barth to take a leading role ín the effort to resist the Nazis.
This effort resulted in the Barmen Declaration of l-934, which
helped stop the transformation of the Church into the religíon of
Hitlerism.
The following section explains the roots of Barth's social
thínking. It offers a summary of the basic themes of Barth's
commentary on The Epistle to the Romans. The appearance of this
book was an affront to t.he tradition of "Liberal- theology" and an
impetus for renewed interest in "Dialectical theology. " It \^¡as
largely influenced by Franz Overbeck's criticism of theology for
being too closely Iinked with changing ideologies. This
association, he argued, prevented theology from addressing the
eternal, unchanging aspect of Christian truth recorded in the
Bible, and encouraged its compromise with cultural ideologies.
The subsequent chapters focus on the role of the Church in
preserving and proclaiming the eternal Word of God. First, I
summarize Barth's views about the Church's relation to the State,
and then discuss how Barth applied his understanding of the
relationship to the situation in eastern Europe after World War IÏ.
During this period, a change in the historical status of the Church
occurred. Previously, it had been supported by the established
political powers. Now it had to deal with disinterest or even
antagonism on the part of the State. Barth's opinions about this
new situation were based on the idea that the Church needs neither
material support nor ideological- endorsement from the State in
order to perform its duty and fulfill a significant function.
The last part of the paper examines Niebuhr and Tillich's
criticisms of Barth, which were directed toward Barth's reluctance
to formulate a systematic theology. Tn fact, neither of these
contemporary thinkers had penetrating objections, because they did
not understand that their points ri{ere automatically refuted by
Barth's assertions about the distinction between theology and
ideology as weIl as between theology and philosophy. The primary
purpose of Barth's theological method was to be consistent with
Scripture and to preserve the eschatological character of Christian
faith. If Barth had yielded to their criticism, his theology might
have been more directly reflective of contemporary thinking.
However, it would not have retained its value of being free from
the influence of the currently predominating schools of thought.
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