Editorials
Church Father of the 20th Century
Church Father of the 20th Century: Fortieth Anniversary of the Death of Karl Barth
December 9, 2008
by Stephan Cezanne (epd)
When the First World War erupted, the young Swiss pastor Karl Barth (1886-1968) no longer understood the world. He not only despaired over the resurgence of nationalism, but also over teachers of theology of his time: personalities such as Adolf von Harnack, who together with a group of prominent scientists, artists and writers signed a manifesto in September 1914 declaring their solidarity with Germany's conduct of the war.
This event, along with others, shattered all the major theological systems up to that time for Barth, as he later recalled. He became a "spiritual revolutionary" and was even considered by some as the "Church Father of the 20th Century." Karl Barth died 40 years ago on 10 December 1968 in Basel, where was also born on 10 May 1886, the offspring of a theological dynasty.
His skepticism was especially pronounced with regard to liberal theology and so-called "cultural Protestantism", that is, the bourgeois theology of the 19th century. As a theology professor in the 1920s, he and Friedrich Gogarten, Rudolf Bultmann, Emil Brunner and others developed a "dialectic theology", which places the antithetical distinction between God and humanity, time and eternity in the forefront.
Barth, who taught in Bonn, Göttingen and Münster, among others, broke radically with theologies that mediated between God and humanity or attempted to reduce the - in his opinion, infinite - separation between God and humanity. Henceforth, "God is God." Barth refers to God as the "wholly Other." Ultimately, any religion devised by human beings becomes non-faith. Of one thing Barth was certain: the Word of God comes to human beings only through carefully listening to the Bible.
This fundamental idea is developed in its minutest details in his life's work, the unfinished Church Dogmatics. Because its girth and the color of the original cover, theologians refer to this twelve-volume work as the "white whale." Barth was never able to unravel one paradox of his own theology: "We should as theologians speak of God, but we are human beings and, as human beings, we cannot speak about God." Barth, who as a boy enjoyed reading books on military history, filled thousands of printed pages exploring every nook and cranny of this contradiction.
His reinterpretation of Protestantism shook the Catholic and ecumenical worlds as well. Barth's speculative style and his generally uncritical approach to the Bible, however, drew criticism. For example, he was accused of neo-orthodoxy. "Basically, all my theology is a theology for pastors," he sighed.
Yet, if Barth is remembered today, it is not so much for his fairly unteachable theology, but rather for his struggle against National Socialism. He has gone down in history as the spiritual father of the Barmen Theological Declaration. Historians consider the theses adopted in Wuppertal-Barmen on 31 May 1934 as the founding charter and the moral legitimization of the renewal of German Protestantism in the period following World War II. With the Barmen Declaration, Protestant Christians distance themselves from the ideology of the Nazi regime. This fundamental document of the Kirchenkampf became a model all over the world for Christian liberation movements in totalitarian states.
Today, more than his theology, many persons are interested in the triangular arrangement between Barth, his wife Nelly, with whom he had five children, and his secretary Charlotte von Kirschbaum, who was 13 years younger than him and perhaps the most important person in his life. Against all opposition and moral indignation, he integrated "Lollo" as his life's companion into the family. A study by Suzanne Selinger several years ago rescued Charlotte von Kirschbaum from the shadow of the great scholar. Selinger describes her as an intellectual and feminist who influenced Barth's work considerably.
Barth was never averse to the good things of life: to this very day "I can appreciate lovely feminine shapes, a good drink and a permanently lit pipe," he wrote to Carl Zuckmayer. Throughout his existence, he was a person of extremes, and not merely theologically. In his later years, he was criticized for having had communist inclinations. Politicians in his homeland, Switzerland, distanced themselves from him. Many remembered how, in 1911 in the small agricultural community of Safenwil in Aargau, Barth, the "red pastor," supported workers in their struggle for better working conditions and pay.
Today Barth is considered to be one of the most important Protestant theologians. "It remains undisputed that his ouvre not only fundamentally changed theology, but also, as a literary feat due to its sheer volume, is one of the most significant works of the 20th century," according to Protestant theologian Eberhard Jüngel. The late Federal President Johannes Rau (1931-2006) praised Barth as "Doctor of the Church". At the commemorative ceremony for Barth's 100th birthday in 1986 in Düsseldorf, Rau shared what he considered the best of the many anecdotes about the scholar. Someone once asked Barth, "Professor, will we see our loved ones up there?" His answer was, "Yes, but the others too."