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Thinking with Theologians does pretty much what it says on the tin. In each course, we will take weeks a few weeks to grapple with some significant texts by notable Christian theologians, past and present, in the hope of expanding, deepening and challenging our understanding of what it might mean to talk about God. Each session will include a short presentation by the tutor, followed by a period of focused group discussion of a particular text or texts.
Sometimes the focus of the course will be on a particular figure or school of thought; sometimes it will be a particular theme or doctrine. Either way, the method will be the same: read carefully; reflect deeply; talk honestly – then see what happens.
Barth is one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century; one scholar referred to him as the ‘Einstein of theology’. His work had a significant influence on Pope Benedict XVI, as well as Hans Urs von Balthasar. In this course we read we will try to grapple with a few fairly short portions of Barth’s enormous theological output, beginning with his Epistle to the Romans, and moving onto his enormous Church Dogmatics, which remained incomplete when he died in 1968. This should give us enough of a basis to finish the course by considering Balthasar’s assessment of Barth, and what his theological challenge to Catholic thought might be.
Week 1
The Epistle to the Romans
Karl Barth exploded onto the theological scene with his commentary on St Paul’s letter to the Romans, in which he expressed his thorough-going rejection of the then-dominant Liberal Protestant theology. To begin the course, we will read a few sections of the second edition of The Epistle to the Romans, and consider it against the background of liberal theology.
Week 2
The Word of God
Barth began to publish his enormous Church Dogmatics in 1932. We begin at the beginning, by looking at what he writes about revelation, proclamation, church and knowledge– all under the heading of ‘the Word of God’.
Week 3
Election: God’s ‘Yes’; God’s ‘No’
One of Barth’s most innovative theological moves is his reconfiguration of the Reformed doctrine of election. Whereas John Calvin seemed to affirm that God ‘elects some to be saved, with Christ, and predestines others to be damned for eternity, Barth claimed that the doctrine of election is primarily about Christ: Jesus Christ is both the chosen one, and the ‘judge judged in our place’.
Week 4
Barth and Catholicism
In this final week, we consider the impression that Barth made upon the young Hans Urs von Balthasar, and read his assessment of Barth’s theology, alongside some of Barth’s own comments on his attitude towards Catholicism.
If you have time, please read the extract from Barth’s Epistle to the Romans, and see what you make of it. In the session we will look through it together, focusing on the sections that are numbered in the margins. The additional readings are texts that I will refer to in the session, but there is no particular need to read them in advance.
Main reading
Barth, The Epistle to the Romans (6th ed), pp. 10-11; 27-32; 35-45; 271-283
Additional reading
Kierkegaard, Practice in Christianity (extracts).
Luther, Commentary on Romans, Preface (extracts).
Lessing, ‘On the Proof of the Spirit and of Power’.
Barth began to publish his enormous Church Dogmatics in 1932. We begin at the beginning, by looking at what he writes about revelation, proclamation, church and knowledge – all under the heading of ‘the Word of God’. We will look in particular at why the notion of ‘possibility’ was so problematic for Barth. Is there anything about human beings as such that allows for the possibility of revelation? Barth wants to say ‘no’ – and to say so very firmly. We will try to think about why this denial was so important in his theology.
If you have time, please read through the section of Church Dogmatics II.1 below (‘The readiness of man’, plus a few pages from the beginning of the volume). If you don’t have time to do this (and it will take a fair while, I think!), then you might want just to skim through, but then slow down and focus in detail on the sections that I have bracketed, with numbers in the margins. These portions focus in particular on Barth’s rejection of what he calls ‘natural theology’. Perhaps the easiest way of seeing what ‘natural theology’ is, and how it fits within Roman Catholic thinking is to read paragraphs 31-38 of the Catechism of Catholic Church, which is available via the Vatican website here: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PA.HTM
Or, you may want to look at this interview with Protestant theologian Alister McGrath, who uses the term ‘natural theology’ in a slightly different way, to describe the mutually enriching relationship between science and theology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zU-_N5607k&ab_channel=OxfordConversations
Main reading
Barth, Church Dogmatics 2.1, pp. 3-5; pp. 128-178 (‘The Readiness of Man’)
Additional reading
Schwabel, ‘Theology’ from the Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth
One of Barth’s most innovative theological moves is his reconfiguration of the Reformed doctrine of election. Whereas John Calvin seemed to affirm that God ‘elects’ some to be saved, with Christ, and predestines others to be damned for eternity, Barth claimed that the doctrine of election is primarily about Christ: Jesus Christ is both the chosen one, and the ‘judge judged in our place’.
Main reading
Barth, Church Dogmatics II.2, pp. 94-145 (‘Jesus Christ, Electing and Elected’)
Additional reading
Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1, pp. 211-283 (‘The Judge Judged in our Place’)
Gunton, ‘Karl Barth’s Doctrine of Election as part of his Doctrine of God’ in The Journal of Theological Studies, 25: 2, 1974.
In this final week, we consider the impression that Barth made upon the young Hans Urs von Balthasar, and read his assessment of Barth’s theology, alongside some of Barth’s own comments on his attitude towards Catholicism.
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Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
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Stuart is the Theology Lead at LJC. He graduated with a degree in Literature and Theology from the University of Hull in 2000. From 2003-9 he studied Philosophical Theology part-time at the University of Nottingham, whilst continuing to work in the third sector with vulnerably-housed or homeless people, and young asylum seekers (as well as pulling pints in a pub). He was Lecturer at York St John University for almost a decade, before moving to London Jesuit Centre in 2021. He now lives in South East London, and spends as much time as he can in the woods.
