Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Barth on Theology

"For Barth, theology ‘is the most beautiful of the sciences’ . . . . When asked about the significance of reason, he simply replied, ‘I use it.’

And what is reason used for? Barth says that just as Philip asked the Ethiopian official in Acts 8 whether he understood what he was reading, so one can also ask, ‘Do you understand what you are believing?’

Theology seeks to help us understand what we read and believe. In theology, as Barth conceives it, one walks a path on which we follow not a principle but a person, Christ; and theology is about following Jesus Christ, following him in the realm of thinking. The Word of God that comes to us in Christ is not simply printed in a book."

(Quoted from Eberhard Busch, Barth, 2008)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes...but can you follow Christ without principle? Some would say just follow with your heart (meaning primarily emotions)yet a part of the "heart" is intellect...and hence principle. I guess we get into trouble when we put too much emphasis on reason and not enough on the purpose of the reasoning...to follow Christ. Can we put too much emphasis on the following and in so doing negate reason. Forgive my rambling but i wanted to think out loud on this important statement of Barth's. Stu.

3:05 pm
Jon Coutts said...

I think this next post might serve as my best response . . . even though it is written by someone else.

3:17 am

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