Crisis and Reorientation: Karl Barth’s Römerbrief in the Cultural and Intellectual Context of Post WWI Europe

Preface and Acknowledgements
Contents
Notes on Contributors
Chapter 1: Crisis and Reorientation: Introduction
1 Crisis and Context
2 Changing the Coordinates
3 The Radicality of Reorientation
4 Perspectives on Der Römerbrief. An Outline
5 Conclusion
References
Part I: The Weimar Era as Context of Barth’s Römerbrief
Chapter 2: Karl Barth’s Performative Theology: Context and Rhetoric in Der Römerbrief 1922
1 Barth’s Social and Intellectual Context
2 Rhetoric in Der Römerbrief
3 Conclusion: Barth’s Performative Theology
References
Chapter 3: “As a Tangent Touching a Circle”: Karl Barth and Dialectical Theologians Rethinking Time After 1918
1 “Religion Begins and Ends with History?” A Theological Genealogy of Historical-Political Modernity
2 Exploding “the Circle of Verities”: Crisis Theologians on Historical Methods and Epistemology
3 “Breaking Out of This Last Circle”: A New Ontology of Time
4 The “Most Influential Idea of Modern Man”: On Progress and Relativism
5 “A Snake Biting Its Own Tail”: Two Concluding Remarks
References
Chapter 4: Prophecy as a Political-Theological Category in Barth’s Römerbrief
1 The Rhetoric of Crisis and Concepts of Authority: Reading Barth in Light of Weber and Holl
2 Weber on Prophecy and Charismatic Authority
3 Holl’s “Strong Christians”: A Cross-Theological Parallel to Weber’s Charismatic Prophets
4 Karl Barth’s Römerbrief
4.1 Witnessing the Crisis
4.2 The Ambiguity of Knowledge
4.3 Distinguishing the Prophet
4.4 Freedom, Confusion and Social Action: Barth in Comparison with Holl and Weber
5 The Self-Differentiation of the Book—and of Its Readers
References
Untitled
Part II: Der Römerbrief as Mediator of Currents and Countercurrents
Chapter 5: From Answers to Questions: Barth and Thurneysen on Dostoevsky
References
Chapter 6: The Positive Role of Culture in Barth and Tillich’s Discussion of the Paradox in 1923
1 The Discussion Between Paul Tillich and Karl Barth in 1923
1.1 “Eine Auseinandersetzung mit Karl Barth und Friedrich Gogarten” (1923) by Paul Tillich
1.2 “Von der Paradoxie des ‘positive Paradoxes.’ Antworten und Fragen an Paul Tillich,” by Karl Barth
1.3 Antwort by Paul Tillich
2 Theology and Culture
2.1 Christology, Eschatology, and Culture
2.2 Revelation and Culture
2.3 The Word and Culture
2.4 The Positive Role of Culture
References
Chapter 7: An Apocalyptic Tone: Karl Barth’s Der Römerbrief Between Neo-Kantian and Hermeneutic Paradigms of Orientation
1 Parallaxes: 1922–2022
2 Hermeneutical/Postmodern Approaches to The Letter to the Romans
2.1 A Panoramic View of Recent Philosophical Interpretations of The Letter to the Romans
2.2 Connexio Verborum—Martin Luther 1545
2.3 How to Do Things with the Words of God?
2.4 The Debate over the Tone and Criteria of Philosophy
3 Der Römerbrief Between Immanuel Kant and Neo-Kantianism
3.1 The “Primal Origin”—The Neo-Kantian Paradigm of Der Römerbrief
3.2 “Mere matter” as the Principle of the Spirit in Kant’s Critique of Judgment
3.3 The “swinging movement”
3.4 The Double Floor of the Biblical Word
3.5 The Prophetic and Lyrical “I” in Herman Cohen as a Biblical Prism for the Apocalyptic Tone in Der Römerbrief
4 Krisis and Dialectics in Der Römerbrief
4.1 The Apocalyptic Tone of Der Römerbrief
4.2 Ethical Interpretation of the Apocalyptic krisis
4.3 The Krisis of Theology
5 Conclusion: The Subject Matter and the Mere Matter of the Letter
References
Chapter 8: Revisiting the Crisis Theology of Karl Barth in Light of Søren Kierkegaard in a New Time of Crisis
1 Introduction
2 Barth’s Encounter with Kierkegaard
2.1 Who Is Søren Kierkegaard in Romans II?
2.2 Barth’s Use of Three Kierkegaardian Key Concepts
The Notion of “Paradox”
The Notion of the “Infinite Qualitative Distinction”
Barth’s Triple Understanding of the Concept of Faith
2.3 An Eclectic Use of Kierkegaard or Respecting Him as a Personality?
2.4 Interim Conclusion
3 Perceiving Crisis in Light of Barth and Kierkegaard
3.1 Two Crisis Theologians
3.2 Crisis as an Epistemic Tool
3.3 Crisis as a Diagnostic Tool
4 Conclusion
References
Part III: Crisis and Reorientation: Cultural and Political Impact, Displacements and New Trajectories
Chapter 9: The Voice of the Preacher: Literary and Rhetorical Aspects of Der Römerbrief
1 Notes on Romans II and Expressionism
2 Romans II as Commentary and Homily
2.1 The Biblical Text (The Epistle to the Romans 8:28–39)
Romans 8:28–39
2.2 Barth’s Comment on the Pericope (The Epistle to the Romans 8:28–39)
References
Chapter 10: A Literary Reception of Karl Barth’s Römerbrief: On Barthianism in John Updike’s Roger’s Version
1 An American Reception
2 About John H. Updike
3 The Novel’s Setup
4 The Book’s Barthianism
5 Barthian Discussions
6 The Story
7 Morality and Dialectics
8 Interpretations
9 John Updike and His Convictions
References
Chapter 11: “Theology After Gulag, Bucha, and Beyond”: How Can Karl Barth’s Theology Contribute to Reorientation in the Contemporary European Crisis? A Post-Soviet Case
1 “D’où parlez-vous?” (Ricoeur)—From Where Do I Speak? Developing a Theology After Gulag
1.1 The Soviet Legacy: Dehumanization
1.2 The Soviet Legacy: Conflation of Religion and Ideology
1.3 How Is Religion Not Ideology?
2 Karl Barth’s Break with Liberal Theology: Reasons and Remedy
2.1 Conflation of Religion and Ideology in Liberal Theology
2.2 Ideology Then and Now: Immanent Concept of God?
2.3 How to Do Reliable Theology: The Problem of Identification
2.4 Barth’s Remedy: God’s Transcendence (“God is God”)
3 Pitfalls in Barth’s Remedy of God’s Transcendence: Confusing Methodology and Content
3.1 Philosophical Categories and Barth’s Theological Analysis
3.2 Barth’s Meshing of Categories, Example 1: Rom. 14:13–15
3.3 Barth’s Meshing of Categories, Example II: CD III/2, § 45
4 Resources of Orthodox Theology: God’s Transcendence and Unity of Creation
4.1 God’s Transcendence and Practical Knowledge of God
4.2 Unity of Creation as Potential for a Theology After Gulag
References
Author Index
Subject Index