Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
In recent years, the phrase ‘political theology’ has become fairly common in theological discourse. Political theology has been used to describe not only the work of theologians who admit to having or seeking to develop a political theology but also to describe the work of some theologians who have not explicitly stated that they are engaged in doing political theology. It is in this context that descriptions of Karl Barth as a political theologian or one who does political theology are becoming common place. The purpose of this article is to test the appropriateness of ascribing a political theology to Karl Barth.
page 441 note 1 See for example: Lehmann, Paul, ‘Karl Barth, Theologian of Permanent Revolution’, pp. 67–81 in Union Seminary Quarterly Review (Fall, 1972), p. 77Google Scholar; and Cornu, Daniel, Karl Barth und die Politik, trans, by Pfisterer, D Rudolf (Wuppertal: Aussaat Verlag, 1969), pp. 119–120.Google Scholar
page 442 note 1 Karl Barth und Rudolf Bultmann, Briefwechsel 1922–1966, edited by Jaspert, Bernd (Zürich; Theologischer Verlag, 1971), pp. 306–307.Google Scholar
page 446 note 1 Barth, Karl, Letter to a Pastor in the German Democratic Republic, trans, by Clark, Henry and Smart, James D., pp. 45–80Google Scholar in How to Serve God in a Marxist Land, ed. by Brown, Robert McAfee (New York: Association Press, 1959), p. 47.Google Scholar
page 447 note 1 Barth, Karl, ‘The Christian Community and the Civil Community’, pp. 148–189 in Community, State and Church (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1960)Google Scholar.
page 448 note 1 Ogletree, Thomas W., ‘Contemporary Emphases in Christian Thought or How to be Fashionable in Your Theology’, pp. 34–37 in The Christian Ministry 1:3 (March 1970), p. 36.Google Scholar
page 448 note 2 Shinn, Roger, ‘Political Theology in the Crossfire’, Thesis Theological Cassettes, vol. 2, no. 3, side 2.Google Scholar
page 449 note 1 Metz, Johann B., Zur Theologie der Welt (Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1968), p. 52.Google Scholar
page 449 note 2 Moltmann, Jürgen, ‘Argumente für eine eschatologische Theologie’, pp. 148–167 in Umkehr zur Zukunft (Munich: Siebenstern Taschenbuch Verlag, 1970), p. 151.Google Scholar
page 451 note 1 Moltmann, Jürgen, Mensch (Stuttgart: Kreuz Verlag, 1971), p. 39.Google Scholar
page 451 note 2 Metz, Johann B., ‘Das Problem einer “politischen Theologie” und die Bestimmung der Kirche als Institution gesellschaftskritischer Freiheit’, Concilium, IV (1968), p. 403.Google Scholar
page 453 note 1 Metz, , Zur Theologie der Welt, p. 106.Google Scholar
page 453 note 2 Metz, Johann B., ‘Zur Präsenz der Kirche in der Gesellschaft’, pp. 86–96 in Die Zukunft der Kirche (Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald, 1971), p. 87.Google Scholar
page 453 note 3 Moltmann, Jürgen, ‘Political Theology’, pp. 16–23 in Theology Today, vol. 28, no. 1, (April 1971), p. 8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
page 454 note 1 Herzog, Frederick, Liberation Theology (New York: Seabury Press, 1972), p. 1.Google Scholar
page 454 note 1 Herzog, Frederick, ‘Reorientation in Theology: Trying to Listen to Black Theology’ (Durham, N.C., unpublished, 1970), pp. 2–3.Google Scholar