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130-627: The Barmen Declaration includes six theses: "8.27 We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church in human arrogance could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans." On the contrary, the Declaration proclaims that the Church "is solely Christ's property, and that it lives and wants to live solely from his comfort and from his direction in

260-715: A Reformed pastor in the village of Safenwil in the canton of Aargau . In 1913 he married Nelly Hoffmann, a talented violinist. They had a daughter and four sons, two of whom were Biblical scholars and theologians Markus (6 October 1915 – 1 July 1994) and Christoph Barth  [ de ] (29 September 1917 – 21 August 1986). Later Karl Barth was professor of theology in Göttingen (1921–1925), Münster (1925–1930) and Bonn (1930–1935), in Germany. While serving at Göttingen he met Charlotte von Kirschbaum , who became his long-time secretary, assistant and lover; she lived in

390-589: A Universalist : "I do not believe in universalism, but I do believe in Jesus Christ, reconciler of all". However, Barth asserted that eternal salvation for everyone, even those that reject God, is a possibility that is not just an open question but should be hoped for by Christians as a matter of grace ; specifically, he wrote, "Even though theological consistency might seem to lead our thoughts and utterances most clearly in this direction, we must not arrogate to ourselves that which can be given and received only as

520-450: A "warranted" belief even in the absence of evidence. Paul Moser argues for volitional epistemology . He systematically contends that, if the God of Christianity exists, this God would not be evident to persons who are simply curious, but would instead, only become evident in a process involving moral and spiritual transformation. "This process might involve persons accepting Jesus Christ as

650-670: A "wholly other" theological foundation than that which Schleiermacher had proposed. In August 1914, Barth was dismayed to learn that his venerated teachers including Adolf von Harnack had signed the " Manifesto of the Ninety-Three German Intellectuals to the Civilized World ". As a result, Barth concluded he could not follow their understanding of the Bible and history any longer. In 1915, Barth and Thurneysen visited Christoph Blumhardt , Leader of

780-402: A 1960 article for The Christian Century regarding the "East–West question" in which he denied any inclination toward Eastern communism and stated he did not wish to live under Communism or wish anyone to be forced to do so; he acknowledged a fundamental disagreement with most of those around him, writing: "I do not comprehend how either politics or Christianity require [sic] or even permit such

910-467: A basic dignity and value and should be treated, as Immanuel Kant said, as "an end in themselves" and not as a means to an end. Humans have a capacity for reason and free will which enable making rational choices. They have the natural capacity to distinguish right and wrong which is often called a conscience or natural law. When guided by reason, conscience and grace, humans develop virtues and laws. In Christian metaphysics according to Beach, " Eternal Law

1040-600: A belief for them to be justified in holding that belief. People hold many beliefs that are difficult to evidentially justify, so some philosophers have adopted a form of reliabilism instead. In reliablilism, a person can be seen as justified in a belief, so long as the belief is produced by a reliable means even when they do not know all the evidence. Alvin Plantinga (1932–) and Nicholas Wolterstorff (1932–) advocate Reformed epistemology taken from Reformer John Calvin 's (1509–1564) teaching that persons are created with

1170-593: A chair in systematic theology at the University of Basel . In the course of his appointment, he was required to answer a routine question asked of all Swiss civil servants: whether he supported the national defence. His answer was, "Yes, especially on the northern border!" The newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung carried his 1936 criticism of the philosopher Martin Heidegger for his support of the Nazis. In 1938 he wrote

1300-444: A consistent defense of massive wealth inequality." Some Christians argue that a proper understanding of Christian teachings on wealth and poverty requires a larger view where the accumulation of wealth is not the central focus of one's life but rather a resource to foster the "good life". Professor David W. Miller has constructed a three-part rubric which presents three prevalent attitudes among Protestants towards wealth: that wealth

1430-697: A disinclination to lead to the conclusions which the West has drawn with increasing sharpness in the past 15 years. I regard anticommunism as a matter of principle an evil even greater than communism itself." In 1962, Barth visited the United States and lectured at Princeton Theological Seminary , the University of Chicago , the Union Theological Seminary and the San Francisco Theological Seminary . He

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1560-468: A foundation for Christian ethics alongside revelation from its beginnings, but Wogaman points out that Christian ethicists have not always agreed upon "the meaning of revelation, the nature of reason, and the proper way to employ the two together". He says there are at least seven ethical principles that Christian ethicists have perennially reinterpreted. Since the Christian ethic begins with God as

1690-472: A free gift", just hoping for total reconciliation. Barth, in the words of a later scholar, went a "significant step beyond traditional theology" in that he argued against more conservative strains of Protestant Christianity in which damnation is seen as an absolute certainty for many or most people. To Barth, Christ's grace is central. Unlike many Protestant theologians, Barth wrote on the topic of Mariology (the theological study of Mary). Barth's views on

1820-468: A given Jewish/Hellenist paradigm, transforming those elements into something uniquely Christian. Paul's theological and apocalyptic views form the foundation of his ethical views, and the foundation of Paul's theology is the cross of Christ. When the Corinthian church begins in-fighting, Paul responds by saying they have abandoned their core teachings: the cross and the centrality of God. These were

1950-674: A humble and virtuous life, "the study of Classics, and honoring the dignity of the individual". He promoted the Christian ethic as expressed in the Sermon on the Mount ( Matthew 5:1 – 7:27 ). After separating from theology, the primary concern of nineteenth century Christian ethicists was the study of human nature. "Beginning with the rise of Christian social theory" in the nineteenth century, theologian John Carman says Christian ethics became heavily oriented toward discussion of nature and society, wealth, work, and human equality. Carman adds that, in

2080-535: A lecture delivered in Arau in 1916, Barth argued that "God's righteousness is revealed like a trumpet blast from another world that interrupts one's obligation to nation, and also interrupts the nurturing of religious thoughts and feelings. A 'No' to these assumptions knocks one to the floor, but a 'Yes' to God's righteousness and glory sets one on one's feet again." Although in one sense it is accurate to say that Barth's Dialectical approach sought deliberately to destabilize

2210-557: A letter to a Czech colleague Josef Hromádka in which he declared that soldiers who fought against Nazi Germany were serving a Christian cause. Barth's theology found its most sustained and compelling expression in his five-volume magnum opus , the Church Dogmatics ( Kirchliche Dogmatik ). Widely regarded as an important theological work, the Church Dogmatics represents the pinnacle of Barth's achievement as

2340-814: A moral problem. Princeton Theological Seminary , where Barth lectured in 1962, houses the Center for Barth Studies, which is dedicated to supporting scholarship related to the life and theology of Karl Barth. The Barth Center was established in 1997 and sponsors seminars, conferences, and other events. It also holds the Karl Barth Research Collection, the largest in the world, which contains nearly all of Barth's works in English and German, several first editions of his works, and an original handwritten manuscript by Barth. Christian ethics Christian ethics , also known as moral theology ,

2470-461: A new path that diverged from established law: "turn the other cheek" Matthew 5:38–39 , "love your enemies" Matthew 5:43–45 , "bless those who persecute you" Romans 12:14–21 . Jesus' followers must not murder, as the law says, but they must also not hold the kind of hatred that leads to it, but must forgive instead. Wogaman adds that, "justice, as the institutional structure of love, is inevitably dependent upon other incentives, including, ultimately

2600-415: A permanent conflict between his marriage and his affections for von Kirschbaum: "The way I am, I never could and still cannot deny either the reality of my marriage or the reality of my love. It is true that I am married, that I am a father and a grandfather. It is also true that I love. And it is true that these two facts don't match. This is why we, after some hesitation at the beginning, decided not to solve

2730-459: A redeemer who calls persons to a radical life of loving compassion, even the loving of our enemies. By willfully subjecting oneself to the commanding love of God, a person in this filial relationship with God, through Christ, may experience a change of character (from self-centeredness to serving others) in which the person's character (or very being) may come to serve as evidence of the truths of faith." According to Gustafson, Christian epistemology

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2860-486: A rejection of the idea that God chose each person to either be saved or damned based on purposes of the Divine will, and it was impossible to know why God chose some and not others. Barth's doctrine of election involves a firm rejection of the notion of an eternal, hidden decree. In keeping with his Christo-centric methodology, Barth argues that to ascribe the salvation or damnation of humanity to an abstract absolute decree

2990-418: A sense of God (sensus divinitatis). Even when this sense is not apparent to the person because of sin, it can still prompt them to believe and live a life of faith. This means belief in God may be seen as a properly basic belief similar to other basic human beliefs such as the belief that other persons exist, and the world exists, just as we believe we exist ourselves. Such a basic belief is what Plantinga calls

3120-602: A set of rules and laws seen as divine commands reflecting behaviors which are morally required, forbidden, or permitted. Although virtue ethics and deontological ethics are normally seen as contrasting with one another, they are combined in Christian ethics. Claire Brown Peterson calls the Christian ethic a natural law ethic. According to Peterson, the New Testament contains "the expectation that humans are capable of knowing much of how they should live apart from explicit divine instructions ... Thus Gentiles who lack

3250-477: A theologian. Church Dogmatics runs to over six million words and 9,000 pages – one of the longest works of systematic theology ever written. The Church Dogmatics is in five volumes: the Doctrine of the Word of God, the Doctrine of God, the Doctrine of Creation, the Doctrine of Reconciliation and the Doctrine of Redemption. Barth's planned fifth volume was never written and the fourth volume's final part-volume

3380-426: A theological and philosophical response which John Hick thinks is the Christian ethic's greatest challenge. Todd Calder says there are at least two concepts of evil applicable to this question: a broad concept and a narrow one. A broad concept of evil defines it as any and all pain and suffering, but this quickly becomes problematic. Evil cannot be correctly understood on a simple scale of pleasure vs. pain, since

3510-520: A variety of Christian views on poverty and wealth. At one end of the spectrum is a view which casts wealth and materialism as an evil to be avoided and even combatted. At the other end is a view which casts prosperity and well-being as a blessing from God . The Christian ethic is not an opponent of poverty since Jesus embraced it, but it is an opponent of the destitution that results from social injustice. Kevin Hargaden says "No Christian ethic can offer

3640-449: A variety of views on the issues of sexual orientation and homosexuality . The many Christian denominations vary from condemning homosexual acts as sinful , to being divided on the issue, and to seeing it as morally acceptable. Even within a denomination, individuals and groups may hold different views. Further, not all members of a denomination necessarily support their church's views on homosexuality. Christian involvement in politics

3770-667: A world containing creatures who are significantly free is an innately more valuable world than one containing no free creatures at all, and that God could not have made such a world without including the possibility of evil and suffering. The soul-making theodicy advocated by John Hick ( Irenaean theodicy ) says God allows suffering because it has value for building moral character. Christian ethicists such as David Ray Griffin have also produced process theodicies which assert God's power and ability to influence events are, of necessity, limited by human creatures with wills of their own. Nicola Hoggard Creegan says natural evil exists in

3900-438: Is (1) an offense to the Christian faith (2) an obstacle to faith and (3) the outcome of faith. Classicist Kyle Harper writes that sexuality was at the heart of Christianity's early clash with its surrounding culture. Rome's concept of sexual morality was centered on social status, whereas the Christian ethic was a "radical notion of individual freedom centered around a libertarian paradigm of complete sexual agency". This meant

4030-540: Is a multi-faceted ethical system. It is a virtue ethic , which focuses on building moral character , and a deontological ethic which emphasizes duty. It also incorporates natural law ethics, which is built on the belief that it is the very nature of humans – created in the image of God and capable of morality, cooperation, rationality, discernment and so on – that informs how life should be lived, and that awareness of sin does not require special revelation. Other aspects of Christian ethics, represented by movements such as

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4160-426: Is a polarity between human reason and the authority of scripture and tradition. Meyer asserts that the answer to this difficulty lies in modern Christian ethics embracing secular standards of rationality and coherence, while continuing to refuse the secular worldview and its premises and conclusions. Meyer describes this effort to affirm religion "within the context of modern secularity" as "the critical fault line in

4290-400: Is both supported and opposed by the different types of Christian ethics. Political scientist Amy E. Black says Jesus' command to pay taxes (Matthew 22:21), was not simply an endorsement of government, but was also a refusal to participate in the fierce political debate of his day over the poll tax. Old Testament scholar Gordon Wenham says: Jesus' response "implied loyalty to a pagan government

4420-437: Is built on different assumptions than those of philosophical epistemology. He says the Christian ethic assumes either a condition of piety, or at least a longing for piety. He defines piety as an attitude of respect evoked by "human experiences of dependence upon powers we do not create and cannot fully master". Gustafson adds that such piety must be open to a wide variety of human experiences, including "data and theories about

4550-468: Is his summa theology titled the Church Dogmatics , which contains Barth's doctrine of the word of God, doctrine of God, doctrine of reconciliation and doctrine of redemption. Barth is most well known for reorienting all theological discussion around Jesus. One major objective of Barth is to recover the doctrine of the Trinity in theology from its putative loss in liberalism . His argument follows from

4680-500: Is ideal and what is possible. Thus, Beach asserts that some principles are seen as "more authoritative than others. The spirit, not the letter, of biblical laws becomes normative." The diversity of the Bible means that it does not have a single ethical perspective but instead has a variety of perspectives; this has given rise to disagreements over defining the foundational principles of Christian ethics. For example, reason has been

4810-514: Is identified with God's righteousness in a distinctive way where God's mercy always takes the initiative. The change in Barth's reception of Anselm's doctrine of the atonement is, therefore, alleged to show that Barth's doctrine entails support for universalism. Barth argued that previous perspectives on sin and salvation, influenced by strict Calvinist thinking, sometimes misled Christians into thinking that predestination set up humanity such that

4940-425: Is no monolithic polarity of self-interested action versus other-regardingness". Christian ethics has not traditionally contained concepts of self-love as a good. However, Koji Yoshino asserts that, within the Christian ethic, "altruistic love and self-love are not contradictory to each other. Those who do not love themselves cannot love others, nevertheless, those who ignore others cannot love themselves." There are

5070-427: Is practiced by withdrawing from the non-Christian world, minimizing interaction with that world, while living outside or above the world in communities separated from other municipalities. The mystical type (i.e., some monastic orders, some parts of the charismatic movement and evangelicalism) advocates an ethic that is purely an inward experience of personal piety and spirituality and often includes asceticism . In

5200-854: Is sometimes claimed to have called Barth "the greatest theologian since Thomas Aquinas ", though Fergus Kerr observes that "there is never chapter and verse for the quotation" and it is sometimes attributed to Pope Paul VI instead. Barth died on 10 December 1968, at his home in Basel , Switzerland. The evening before his death, he had encouraged his lifelong friend Eduard Thurneysen that he should not be downhearted, "For things are ruled, not just in Moscow or in Washington or in Peking, but things are ruled – even here on earth—entirely from above, from heaven above." Karl Barth's most significant theological work

5330-521: Is the language through which the Christian ethic is able to relate these concepts to the world. In a convergence of opinion among Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed, and others, this has led to a support of human rights becoming common to all varieties of Christian ethics. Wogaman asserts that "love is, and must remain", the foundation of the Christian ethical system. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus summarizes his ethical teachings to those who would follow

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5460-526: Is the transcendent blueprint of the whole order of the universe... Natural Law is the enactment of God's eternal law in the created world and discerned by human reason." Some older scholarship saw Paul's moral instruction as separate from his theology, saying his ethic was adopted from Hellenist philosophy and was therefore not a specifically Christian ethic. Modern scholarship has broken up these old paradigms. "Christianity began its existence as one among several competing Jewish sects or movements. Judaism

5590-531: Is to make some part of God more final and definitive than God's saving act in Jesus Christ. God's absolute decree, if one may speak of such a thing, is God's gracious decision to be for humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. Drawing from the earlier Reformed tradition, Barth retains the notion of double predestination but makes Jesus himself the object of both divine election and reprobation simultaneously; Jesus embodies both God's election of humanity and God's rejection of human sin . While some regard this revision of

5720-893: The Acts of the Apostles , may have been held in about AD 50. The council's decrees to abstain from blood, sexual immorality, meat sacrificed to idols, and the meat of strangled animals were considered generally binding for all Christians for several centuries, and are still observed by the Greek Orthodox Church . Early Christian writings give evidence of the hostile social setting in the Roman Empire , which prompted Christians to think through aspects of Roman society in Christian terms. Christian ethics sought "moral instruction on specific problems and practices" which were not sophisticated ethical analyses, but simple applications of

5850-581: The Age of Enlightenment followed shortly on the heels of the Reformation, but the influence of Christian ethics was such that J. Philip Wogaman , pastor and professor of Christian ethics, asks "whether those (Enlightenment) ideas would have been as successful in the absence of the Reformation, or even whether they would have taken the same form". The Roman Catholic Church of the 16th century responded to Reformation Protestantism in three ways. First, through

5980-617: The Counter-Reformation which began with Pope Paul III (1534–1549). Secondly, through the new monastic orders which grew in response to the challenges which Protestantism presented. The most influential of these new orders was the Order of Jesuits . The Jesuits' commitment to education put them at the forefront of many colonial missions. The third response was by the Council of Trent in 1545 and 1563. The Council asserted that

6110-751: The Middle Ages as listing " 7 capital sins ... 7 works of mercy, 7 sacraments , 7 principle virtues , 7 gifts of the Spirit , 8 beatitudes , 10 commandments , 12 articles of faith and 12 fruits of faith ". Crusade historian Jonathan Riley-Smith says that the Crusades were products of the renewed spirituality of the High Middle Ages (1000–1250), when the ethic of living the Apostolic life and chivalry began to form. The Middle Ages and

6240-444: The Middle Ages , when the rediscovery of Aristotle led to scholasticism and the writings of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274). The Reformation of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the subsequent counter-Reformation , and Christian humanism heavily impacted Christian ethics, particularly its political and economic teachings. A branch of Christian theology for most of its history, Christian ethics separated from theology during

6370-529: The Renaissance saw a number of models of sin, listing the seven deadly sins and the virtues opposed to each. Inaccurate Latin translations of classical writings were replaced in the twelfth century with more accurate ones. This led to an intellectual revolution called scholasticism , which was an effort to harmonize Aristotle's thoughts and Christian thought. In response to the dilemmas this effort created, Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) wrote "one of

6500-496: The Unitas Fratrum . One of the main purposes of the Declaration was to establish a three-church confessional consensus opposing pro-Nazi "German Christianity". These three churches were Lutheran , Reformed , and United . Karl Barth Christianity • Protestantism Karl Barth ( / b ɑːr t , b ɑːr θ / ; German: [bart] ; ( 1886-05-10 ) 10 May 1886 – ( 1968-12-10 ) 10 December 1968)

6630-528: The early Christian period , which is generally defined as having begun with the ministry of Jesus ( c.  27 AD –30) and ended with the First Council of Nicaea in 325. It emerged from the heritage shared by both Judaism and Christianity, and depended upon the Hebrew canon as well as important legacies from Greek and Hellenistic philosophy. The Council of Jerusalem , reported in chapter 15 of

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6760-449: The social Gospel and liberation theology , may be combined into a fourth area sometimes called prophetic ethics. Christian ethics derives its metaphysical core from the Bible , seeing God as the ultimate source of all power. Evidential , Reformed and volitional epistemology are the three most common forms of Christian epistemology . The variety of ethical perspectives in the Bible has led to repeated disagreement over defining

6890-528: The "sinfulness of the social order". According to Servais Pinckaers , moral theologian and Roman Catholic priest, the sources of Christian ethics are the "Scriptures, the Holy Spirit, the Gospel law, and natural law." The four sources of Wesleyan theology are the Bible, tradition , reason , and Christian experience (an experience of the decisive adoption of Christianity). Christian ethics takes from

7020-539: The Bad Boll Christian Community and Social Democratic politician. Their conversation made a deep impression on Barth. He later commented that "Blumhardt always begins with God's presence, power, and purpose," which indicates a likely influence in shaping his own theocentric starting-point. Barth also found in Blumhardt's pro-Socialist politics an inspiring encouragement for his own advocacy for

7150-530: The Bible and church tradition were the foundations of church authority, not just the Bible ( sola scriptura ) as Protestants asserted; the Vulgate was the only official Bible and other versions were rejected; salvation was through faith and works, not faith alone; and the seven sacraments were reaffirmed. According to Matthews and Dewitt, "The moral, doctrinal and disciplinary results of the Council of Trent laid

7280-410: The Bible and the early church. By the twenty-first century, additional traditions had formed in Christian ethics based on different interpretations of divine attributes, how God communicates moral knowledge, differing anthropological conclusions, and different ideas about how the believer should relate to the Christian community and the outside world. One aspect of these differences, which focuses on

7410-623: The Bible is the inclusive God of all nations and all people ( Galatians 3:28 ), and the Great Commission ( Matthew 28:19 ) is a command to go to all nations, yet Wogaman points out that Christians are referred to in the New Testament as the "elect" ( Romans 8:33 Matthew 24:22 ) implying God has chosen some and not others for salvation. Christians and non-Christians have, throughout much of history, faced significant moral and legal questions concerning this ethical tension. During

7540-498: The Bible its normative rules focusing on conduct, its basic understanding of natural law, its patterns of moral reasoning which focus on character, and the ideals of a community built on social justice. Philip Wogaman writes that Christian ethics has also had a "sometimes intimate, sometimes uneasy" relationship with Greek and Roman philosophy, taking some aspects of its principles from Plato , Aristotle and other Hellenic philosophers. Christian ethics began its development during

7670-517: The Christian view of the nature of reality can also be called "biblical theism" or "biblical personalism": the belief that "ultimate reality is a personal God who acts, shows and speaks..." Mark Smith explains that, in metaphysical language, the power of lesser beings participates in Power itself, which is identified as God. Humanity is the highest level of development in creation, but humans are still creatures. This view asserts that humans reflect

7800-469: The Confessing Church, and Jürgen Moltmann , Helmut Gollwitzer , James H. Cone , Wolfhart Pannenberg , Rudolf Bultmann , Thomas F. Torrance , Hans Küng , and also Reinhold Niebuhr , Jacques Ellul , and novelists such as Flannery O'Connor , John Updike , and Miklós Szentkuthy . Among many other areas, Barth has also had a profound influence on modern Christian ethics , influencing

7930-541: The German Führer , Adolf Hitler . Barth mailed this declaration to Hitler personally. This was one of the founding documents of the Confessing Church and Barth was elected a member of its leadership council, the Bruderrat. He was forced to resign from his professorship at the University of Bonn in 1935 for refusing to swear an oath to Hitler . Barth then returned to his native Switzerland, where he assumed

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8060-468: The National Institute of medicine says pain is essential for survival. Marcus Singer says that a workable definition of evil requires that: "If something is really evil, it can't be necessary, and if it is really necessary, it can't be evil." The Christian story "is a story of the salvific value of suffering", therefore the Christian ethic, while assuming the reality of evil and recognizing

8190-489: The Old Testament depict material prosperity as a reward. Yet, the New Testament references the life of the Spirit as the ultimate goal, and warns against worldliness. In the traditional view, this requires self-sacrifice, self-denial and self-discipline, and greatness lies in being a servant to all ( Mark 10:42–45 ). Yet according to ethicist Darlene Weaver , "there is no ontological split between self/other; there

8320-528: The Old Testament show God as rejecting all unrighteousness and injustice and commending those who live moral lives. In tension with this, there is also "a deep expression of God's love for undeserving sinners". Wogaman says the apostle Paul refers to this as grace: "being treated as innocent when one is guilty". Wogaman argues that: "Part of the biblical legacy of Christian ethics is the necessity somehow to do justice to both" law and grace. Author Stanley Rudman asserts that human rights (as defined post–WWII)

8450-589: The Protestant Church attempted to come to terms with Nazi Germany , Barth was largely responsible for the writing of the Barmen Declaration ( Barmer Erklärung ). This declaration rejected the influence of Nazism on German Christianity by arguing that the Church 's allegiance to the God of Jesus Christ should give it the impetus and resources to resist the influence of other lords, such as

8580-618: The Reformation, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics continued to be the main authority for the discipline of ethics at Protestant universities until the late seventeenth century, with over fifty Protestant commentaries published on the Nicomachean Ethics before 1682. Max Weber asserted that there is a correlation between the ethics of the Reformers and the predominantly Protestant countries where modern capitalism and modern democracy developed first. The secular ideologies of

8710-403: The Reformation, Christians pioneered the concept of religious freedom which rests upon an acceptance of the necessity and value of pluralism , a modern-day concept often referred to as moral ecology . Christian ethics emphasizes morality. The law and the commandments are set within the context of devotion to God but are deontological standards defining what this morality is. The prophets of

8840-581: The Romans (German: Der Römerbrief ) in the summer of 1916 while he was still a pastor in Safenwil, with the first edition appearing in December 1918 (but with a publication date of 1919). On the strength of the first edition of the commentary, Barth was invited to teach at the University of Göttingen . Barth decided around October 1920 that he was dissatisfied with the first edition and heavily revised it

8970-635: The Romans , Barth endorses Anselm's idea that God who is robbed of his honor must punish those who robbed him. In Church Dogmatics I/2, Barth advocates divine freedom in the incarnation with the support of Anselm's Cur Deus Homo . Barth holds that Anselm's doctrine of the atonement preserves both God's freedom and the necessity of Christ's incarnation. The positive endorsement of Anselmian motives in Cur Deus Homo continues in Church Dogmatics II/1. Barth maintains with Anselm that

9100-483: The acceptance of suffering, possible." There is an inherent tension between inclusivity and exclusivity in all the Abrahamic traditions . According to the book of Genesis, Abraham is the recipient of the promise of God to become a great nation. The promise is given to him and his "seed", exclusively, yet the promise also includes that he will become a blessing to all nations, inclusively ( Genesis 12:3 ). The God of

9230-470: The assumptions of Liberal theology; in another sense it is important to acknowledge that Barth never totally repudiated the historical-critical approach to the Scriptures. In addition, he continued to engage with the questions that other disciplines raised for the Christian faith, typically responding with a robust theological and Christ-centered approach. Barth first began his commentary The Epistle to

9360-459: The basic Christian ethical principles, with at least seven major principles undergoing perennial debate and reinterpretation. Christian ethicists use reason, philosophy , natural law, the social sciences , and the Bible to formulate modern interpretations of those principles; Christian ethics applies to all areas of personal and societal ethics. Originating in early Christianity from c. 27 to 325 AD, Christian ethics continued to develop during

9490-545: The church and its mission, developed into what Wilkins calls prophetic ethics . Its starting point is social justice and Jesus ' "kingdom ideals", rather than individual morality; it recognizes the group dimension of sin, and tends to be critical of (and challenge) the other Christian ethical theories. Anabaptism is an early incorporation of the prophetic model reaching back to the Radical Reformation. They differed from other Reformation groups in that they saw

9620-517: The church as a unique type of human organization and its problems, not as theological, but as ethical failures rooted in entanglement with politics. Anabaptism began among the dispossessed and persecuted with isolationist tendencies, whereas modern versions, such as the Social Gospel movement, have turned toward cultural engagement. Post-colonial thought , and black, feminist and liberation theologies are examples of this Christian ethic engaging

9750-403: The church type (i.e., Roman Catholicism and mainstream Protestantism), the Christian ethic is lived within the world, through marriage, family, and work, while living within and participating in their respective towns, cities and nations. This ethic is meant to permeate every area of life. The ethic of the sect (i.e., Amish , Mennonites , some monastic orders) works in the opposite direction. It

9880-411: The complicated relationship between all three individuals that occurred over the span of 40 years, released by Barth's children. The letters between von Kirschbaum and Barth from 1925 to 1935 made public "the deep, intense, and overwhelming love between these two human beings," through the lengthy period in which von Kirschbaum lived in the same house as Barth and his wife Nelly. In them, Barth describes

10010-453: The contemporary world". Gustafson sets out four basic points he asserts that any theologically grounded ethic must address: The Christian metaphysic is rooted in the biblical metaphysic of God as "Maker of Heaven and earth". Philosopher Mark Smith explains that, in the Bible, a fundamental ontology is embodied in language about power, where the world and its beings derive their reality (their being, their power to exist, and to act) from

10140-401: The cosmos ...of divine making". Gustafson adds that: "Knowledge conditions are relative to particular communities" and all human knowledge is based on the experiences we have in the cultures within which we live. Christian ethics asserts the ontological nature of moral norms from God, but it is also accountable to standards of rationality and coherence; it must make its way through both what

10270-459: The cover of Time on 20 April 1962. Like many Protestant theologians of his generation, Barth was educated in a liberal theology influenced by Adolf von Harnack , Friedrich Schleiermacher and others. His pastoral career began in the rural Swiss town of Safenwil , where he was known as the "Red Pastor from Safenwil". There he became increasingly disillusioned with the liberal Christianity in which he had been trained. This led him to write

10400-543: The dangers of Communism. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1950. In the 1950s, Barth sympathized with the peace movement and opposed West German rearmament . Barth was exempted from a regulation that limited the tenure of a professorship at the University of Basel to the year they were 70 years of age, which he would have reached in 1956. Barth wrote

10530-493: The development of the Protestant work ethic . Where some reformers such as Huldrych Zwingli regarded church and state as identical, Calvin separated church and state by stating that God worked through the church spiritually, and directly in the world through civil government, each with their own sphere of influence. Using natural law, the Old Testament covenant model and his reformation theology and ethics, Calvin provided

10660-490: The doctrine of election as an improvement on the Augustinian-Calvinist doctrine of the predestination of individuals, critics, namely Emil Brunner , have charged that Barth's view amounts to a soft universalism , thereby departing from Augustinian-Calvinism. Barth's doctrine of objective atonement develops as he distances himself from Anselm of Canterbury 's doctrine of the atonement. In The Epistle to

10790-407: The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For most scholars of the twenty-first century, Christian ethics fits in a niche between theology on one side and the social sciences on the other. Secularism has had significant influence on modern Christian ethics. Christian ethics, also referred to as moral theology, was a branch of theology for most of its history. Becoming a separate field of study, it

10920-406: The ethical obligation for sexual self-control was placed on the individual, male and female, slave and free, equally, in all communities, regardless of status. In Paul's letters, porneia was a single name for the array of sexual behaviors outside marital intercourse that became a central defining concept of sexual morality, and shunning it, a key sign of choosing to follow Jesus. For Paul, "the body

11050-515: The expectation of his appearance." (8.17) Rejecting domestication of the Word in the Church, the Declaration points to the inalienable Lordship of Jesus Christ by the Spirit and to the external character of church unity which "can come only from the Word of God in faith through the Holy Spirit. Thus alone is the Church renewed" (8.01). The Declaration was mostly written by the Reformed theologian Karl Barth but underwent modification, especially with

11180-632: The family home for 37 years and played a large role in the writing of his epic, the Church Dogmatics . He was deported from Germany in 1935 after he refused to sign (without modification) the Oath of Loyalty to Adolf Hitler and went back to Switzerland and became a professor in Basel (1935–1962). Liberal theology (German: moderne Theologie ) was a trend in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Protestant theology to reinterpret traditional beliefs in two ways. First, it adopted an historical-critical approach to

11310-439: The first edition of his The Epistle to the Romans (a.k.a. Romans I), published in 1919, in which he resolved to read the New Testament differently. Barth began to gain substantial worldwide acclaim with the publication in 1921 of the second edition of his commentary, The Epistle to the Romans , in which he openly broke from liberal theology. He influenced many significant theologians such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer who supported

11440-435: The following eleven months, finishing the second edition around September 1921. Particularly in the thoroughly re-written second edition of 1922, Barth argued that the God who is revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus challenges and overthrows any attempt to ally God with human cultures, achievements, or possessions. The book's popularity led to its republication and reprinting in several languages. In 1934, as

11570-517: The form of animal suffering, and she offers a theodicy in response that is based on the parable of the wheat and the tares ( Matthew 13:24–29 ). She argues that nature can be understood as an intertwined mix of the perfect and the corrupted, that God could not have made one without allowing the existence of the other, and that this is because of the natural laws involved in creation. Christian ethicists such as Christopher Southgate have also produced evolutionary theodicies which use evolution to show that

11700-527: The foundations for Roman Catholic policies and thought right up to the present." Christian humanism taught the radical new idea that any Christian with a "pure and humble heart could pray directly to God" without the intervention of a priest. Matthews and Platt write that, "The outstanding figure among the northern humanists—and possibly the outstanding figure among all humanists—is the Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus ". His ethical views included advocating

11830-482: The grassroots "federal theology" used by "nations and churches struggling for justice and liberty". These reformers contributed ideas of popular sovereignty , asserting that human beings are not "subjects of the state but are members of the state". During the Reformation , Protestant Christians pioneered the ethics of religious toleration and religious freedom . Protestants also valued virtue ethics. After

11960-398: The human race. Through Jesus, Mary is Mother of God. Barth's doctrine of scripture was criticised by reformed theologians such as Cornelius Van Til , Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and others in the confessional reformed tradition. Chapter VIII of Van Til's, Christianity and Barthianism (1962), critiques Barth's view of revelation and das Wort Gottes ('the Word of God'). Charlotte von Kirschbaum

12090-454: The idea that God is the object of God's own self-knowledge, and revelation in the Bible means the self-unveiling to humanity of the God who cannot be discovered by humanity simply through its own intuition. God's revelation comes to man 'vertically from above' ( Senkrecht von Oben ). One of the most influential and controversial features of Barth's Dogmatics was his doctrine of election ( Church Dogmatics II/2). Barth's theology entails

12220-572: The introduction of its fifth article (on the two kingdoms), as a result of input from several Lutheran theologians. The document became the chief confessional document of the so-called Confessing Church . The ecumenical nature of the Declaration can be seen by its inclusion in the Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Book of Order of the worldwide Moravian Unity,

12350-463: The late twentieth century, these and other differences contributed to the creation of new varieties of Christian ethics. The Anabaptists , the Social Gospel movement, postcolonialism , black theology , feminist theology , and liberation theology focus first and foremost on social justice , the "kingdom ideals" of Jesus, recognize the community-based dimension of sin, and are critical of

12480-716: The marked exception of Visigothic Spain in the seventh century, Jews in Latin Christendom lived relatively peacefully with their Christian neighbors through most of the Middle Ages" (until about the 13th century). In the centuries following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire , monks on missionary journeys spread practices of penance and repentance using books known as penitentials . Theologian Christoph Luthardt describes Christian ethics of

12610-448: The means of that knowledge. Rabbinic scholar Michael Fishbane goes on to add that human knowledge of God is understood through language, and "It is arguably one of Judaism's greatest contributions to the history of religions to assert that the divine Reality is communicated to mankind through words." Evidentialism in epistemology, which is advocated by Richard Swinburne (1934–), says a person must have some awareness of evidence for

12740-448: The nineteenth and twentieth centuries, "the appeal to inner experience, the renewed interest in human nature, and the influence of social conditions upon ethical reflection introduced new directions to Christian ethics". Carman adds that the question of how the Christian and the church relates to the surrounding world "has led to the development of three distinct types of modern Christian ethics: "the church, sect and mystical types". In

12870-765: The outstanding achievements of the High Middle Ages", the Summa Theologica . His positions were eventually developed into the school of thought known as Thomism , which contains many ethical teachings that continue to be used, especially within the Roman Catholic Church. Martin Luther , in his classic treatise On the Freedom of a Christian (1520) argued that moral effort is a response to grace: ethically, humans are not made good by

13000-509: The point that the Church's willingness to side with anti-socialist and conservative forces had led to its susceptibility to Nazi ideology. In the context of the developing Cold War , that controversial statement was rejected by anti-Communists in the West who supported the Christian Democratic Union of Germany course of re-militarization, as well as by East German dissidents who believed that it did not sufficiently depict

13130-555: The power of God (Being itself). Theology and philosophy professor Jaco Gericke says that metaphysics is found anywhere the Bible has something to say about "the nature of existence". According to Rolf Knierim, the Bible's metaphysic is "dynamistic ontology" which says reality is an ongoing dynamic process. In this view, God "gives the universe its basic order", and its "formal statistical patterns", generally referred to as natural laws, but also allows them to develop organically with minimum interference. According to Roger E. Olson ,

13260-444: The power of suffering, does not support the view that all suffering is evil. The narrow definition of evil is used instead. It is defined as the attempt or desire to inflict significant harm on a victim, without moral justification, perpetrated only by moral agents capable of independent choices. The Christian ethic offers three main responses to the problem of evil and a good God. The freewill defense by Alvin Plantinga assumes that

13390-420: The powers that order life..." He says this Christian knowing engages the affections, and takes the form of a sense of gratitude. Gustafson sees trust as an aspect of such knowing: underneath science is a trust that there is an identifiable order and discoverable principles beneath the disarray of complex data; this is comparable to the trust of the Christian faith that "there is unity, order, form and meaning in

13520-629: The problem with a separation on one or the other side." When Charlotte von Kirschbaum died in 1975, Barth's wife Nelly buried Charlotte in the family tomb. Nelly died the following year. The publication of the letters in English caused a considerable crisis in English-speaking followers of Barth, who largely were not aware of the love triangle and the extent to which Barth and von Kirschbaum may not have been able to fully live according to their theological statements on marriage. Von Kirschbaum's early financial dependence on Barth has been posed as

13650-434: The relational nature of God. In the Christian metaphysic, humans have free will, but it is a relative and restricted freedom. Beach says that Christian voluntarism points to the will as the core of the self, and that within human nature, "the core of who we are is defined by what we love", and this determines the direction of moral action. Humans reflect the nature of ultimate reality, therefore they are seen as having

13780-502: The revelation of scripture are said to have the law 'written on their hearts' ( Romans 2:15 ) so that they can [legitimately] be held accountable when they violate what they are capable of seeing is right." Wilkins says that in this view, the primary moral laws are universally known, are discernible through reason, are innate in all people (and, therefore, binding on all), and their practice contributes to individual and community well-being. Elements of each of these theories can be found in

13910-429: The rights and unionization of Safenwil textile workers and alignment with Social Democratic values. These activities, and a public disagreement with a local factory owner, earned him local notoriety as the 'Red Pastor'. Barth's theological response was to adopt a Dialectical approach in which he deliberately sought to interrupt and destabilize the assumptions of Liberal theology by a method of negation and affirmation. In

14040-473: The self crucified is associated in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians with Christian unity, self-sacrifice, and the Christian's future hope. "The cross is increasingly recognized as providing a general foundation for Christian ethics". Christian ethics asserts that it is possible for humans to know and recognize truth and moral good through the application of both reason and revelation. Observation, reasoned deduction and personal experiences, which includes grace, are

14170-443: The sin of humanity cannot be removed by the merciful act of divine forgiveness alone. In Church Dogmatics IV/1, however, Barth's doctrine of the atonement diverges from that of Anselm. By over-christologizing the doctrine, Barth completes his formulation of objective atonement. He finalizes the necessity of God's mercy at the place where Anselm firmly establishes the dignity and freedom of the will of God. In Barth's view, God's mercy

14300-424: The source of all, and since God is defined as the ultimate good, the presence of evil and suffering in the world creates questions often referred to as the problem of evil . Philosopher David Hume summarizes: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then from whence comes evil?" Addressing this requires

14430-610: The sources of Christianity. Second, it engaged with the questions that science, philosophy and other disciplines raised for the Christian faith. Barth's striking out on a different theological course from that of his Liberal university teachers Adolf von Harnack and Wilhelm Herrmann was due to several significant influences and events. While Pastor at Safenwil, Barth had an influential friendship with neighbouring pastor Eduard Thurneysen . Troubled that their theological educations had left them ill-equipped to preach God's message effectively, they together engaged in an intensive quest to find

14560-471: The strategies common to the [Greco-Roman] orators". He employed Jewish strategies for interpretation, and used the traditions for reading Jewish scriptures, including the apocalyptic ones, both sectarian and what would later be rabbinic, but he was also aware of the Greco-Roman philosophical discussions of his day. He mixed things that modern scholars have seen as unmixable, changing key elements within

14690-572: The subject agreed with much Catholic dogma but he disagreed with the Catholic veneration of Mary. Aware of the common dogmatic tradition of the early Church, Barth fully accepted the dogma of Mary as the Mother of God, seeing a rejection of that title equivalent to rejecting the doctrine that Christ's human and divine natures are inseparable (contra the Nestorian heresy). Through Mary, Jesus belongs to

14820-502: The suffering of biological creatures, and belief in a loving and almighty God, are logically compatible. Generally, Christians ethicists do not claim to know the answer to the "Why?" of evil. Plantinga stresses that this is why he does not proffer a theodicy but only a defense of the logic of theistic belief. The approach of Christian ethics to pain and evil is summarized by Sarah Pinnock who asserts that: "Direct contact with God does not answer Job's questions, but it makes meaning, and

14950-469: The teachings (and example) of Jesus about issues such as the role of women, sexuality and slavery. After Christianity became legal in the 4th-century Roman Empire, the range and sophistication of Christian ethics expanded. Through figures such as Augustine of Hippo , Christian ethical teachings defined Christian thought for several centuries; For example, Augustine's ethic concerning the Jews meant that "with

15080-416: The themes that formed the foundation of Paul's preaching. The cross informs Paul's ethic theologically, eschatologically and christologically, reconciling people to God but also summoning them to service. "Paul has more to say about human nature [and ethical behavior] than any other early Christian author", and Paul holds up the cross as motivation for ethical conduct. Practicing the cross by living with

15210-443: The things they do, but if they are made good by God's love, they will be impelled to do good things. John Calvin adopted and systematized Luther's main ideas, grounding everything in the sovereignty of God. In Calvin's view, all humans have a vocation, a calling, and the guiding measure of its value is simply whether it impedes or furthers God's will. This gives a "sacredness" to the most mundane and ordinary of actions leading to

15340-490: The traditional theories of Christian ethics. In the early twenty-first century, Professor of philosophy and religion at Maryville, William J. Meyer, asserts that Christian ethicists often find themselves on one side of a discussion of ethics, while those advocating a secular worldview that denies God and anything transcendent are their opponents on the other side. He says these discussions are divided by beliefs about how claims ought to be addressed, since both sides assume there

15470-664: The use of force". Both the Old and the New Testaments give explicit commands to respect the state's authority to "carry the sword" ( Romans 13:4 ). Christian ethics is, and has been repeatedly, divided over this interaction between obedience to authority and authority's power to enforce that obedience in contrast with one's personal responsibility to love and forgive. According to the book of Genesis, God created and declared creation, including humans, good ( Genesis 1:31 ). The Song of Songs depicts sensual love as good. Other parts of

15600-401: The vast majority of human beings were foreseen to disobey and reject God, with damnation coming to them as a matter of fate. Barth's view of salvation is centrally Christological, with his writings stating that in Jesus Christ the reconciliation of all of mankind to God has essentially already taken place and that through Christ man is already elect and justified. Karl Barth denied that he was

15730-413: The work of ethicists such as Stanley Hauerwas , John Howard Yoder , Jacques Ellul and Oliver O'Donovan . Karl Barth was born on 10 May 1886, in Basel , Switzerland, to Johann Friedrich "Fritz" Barth (1852–1912) and Anna Katharina (Sartorius) Barth (1863–1938). Karl had two younger brothers, Peter Barth (1888–1940) and Heinrich Barth (1890–1965), and two sisters, Katharina and Gertrude. Fritz Barth

15860-529: Was Barth's theological academic colleague for more than three decades. George Hunsinger summarizes the influence of von Kirschbaum on Barth's work: "As his unique student, critic, researcher, adviser, collaborator, companion, assistant, spokesperson, and confidante, Charlotte von Kirschbaum was indispensable to him. He could not have been what he was, or have done what he did, without her." In 2017 Christiane Tietz examined intimate letters written by Barth, Charlotte von Kirschbaum, and Nelly Barth, which discuss

15990-599: Was a Swiss Reformed theologian . Barth is best known for his commentary The Epistle to the Romans , his involvement in the Confessing Church , including his authorship (except for a single phrase) of the Barmen Declaration , and especially his unfinished multi-volume theological summa the Church Dogmatics (published between 1932–1967). Barth's influence expanded well beyond the academic realm to mainstream culture, leading him to be featured on

16120-419: Was a consecrated space, a point of mediation between the individual and the divine". Views on sexuality in the early church were diverse and fiercely debated within its various communities, and this continues. Throughout the majority of Christian history , most Christian theologians and denominations have considered homosexual behavior as immoral or sinful . In contemporary Christian ethics, there are

16250-551: Was a theology professor and pastor and desired for Karl to follow his positive line of Christianity, which clashed with Karl's desire to receive a liberal Protestant education. Karl began his student career at the University of Bern , and then transferred to the University of Berlin to study under Adolf von Harnack , and then transferred briefly to the University of Tübingen before finally in Marburg to study under Wilhelm Herrmann (1846–1922). From 1911 to 1921, Barth served as

16380-718: Was invited to be a guest at the Second Vatican Council . At the time Barth's health did not permit him to attend. However, he was able to visit the Vatican and be a guest of the pope in 1967, after which he wrote the small volume Ad Limina Apostolorum ( At the Threshold of the Apostles ). Barth was featured on the cover of the 20 April 1962 issue of Time magazine, an indication that his influence had reached out of academic and ecclesiastical circles and into mainstream American religious culture. Pope Pius XII

16510-438: Was not incompatible with loyalty to God". The Christian ethic addresses warfare from the differing viewpoints of pacifism , non-resistance , just war , and preventive war which is sometimes called crusade . Where pacifism and non-resistance can be seen as ideals in action, evangelical theologian Harold O. J. Brown describes just wars, preventive wars and crusades as "actions in support of an ideal". In all four views,

16640-556: Was not one thing, either in Judea and Galilee or in the Diaspora, nor were the boundaries among the varieties of Judaism fixed or impermeable". Paul's writings reflect a mix of Hellenism and Judaism and Christianity. He called himself a "Hebrew of Hebrews" but he did so in fluent Greek. He avoided the high Atticistic Greek style of rhetoric, but invented his own style of rhetoric by making "recognizable, sophisticated and original use of

16770-424: Was separated from theology during the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Enlightenment and, according to Christian ethicist Waldo Beach, for most 21st-century scholars it has become a "discipline of reflection and analysis that lies between theology on one side and the social sciences on the other". Christian ethics is a Virtue ethics which focuses on developing an ethical character, beginning with obedience to

16900-659: Was unfinished. After the end of the Second World War , Barth became an important voice in support both of German penitence and of reconciliation with churches abroad. Together with Hans Iwand , he authored the Darmstadt Declaration  [ de ] in 1947 – a more concrete statement of German guilt and responsibility for Nazi Germany and the Second World War than the 1945 Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt . In it, he made

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