Relation of Karl Barth to the historic creeds and standards of the Church

Abstract

The subject of this thesis, The Relation of Karl Earth to the Historic Creeds and Standards of the Church, presents us with two questions, a formal and a material question. First, what is a Reformed Confession of Faith? And secondly, what is the content of a Confession of Faith? Under the formal question of what is a Reformed Confession I understand the definition of the Confession in relation to the Church's language about God and heresy, to dogmatics, dogma and Church proclamation, to Scripture and the Word of God, to philosophy, exegesis and historical criticism. I understand also the relation of the Confession to the Church and to Church union. Finally, I include under the formal question the further question of the desirability and possibility of a Confession to-day. An answer to the material question involves comparing the particular doctrines of Earth's theology with those set down in the historic standards of the Church. We mean, of course, the standards of the Reformed Church. This task of comparison presented certain difficulties, chiefly because the scope of Barth's theological work to date is very limited. Actually he has not yet begun to write dogmatics! So far he has only published the first half of his prolegomena to Dogmatics. Naturally Earth has had to deal with most of the theological problems in the course of his explication of the Doctrine of the Word of God. But it would be highly inadvisable, for instance, to compare Earth's doctrines of justification and sanctification with the standards of our Church until he himself had systematically dealt with them. Any comparison of the Swiss theologian with the Reformed symbols would obviously need to be confined to those doctrines which Earth has expounded. In view of the fact, moreover, that he now discounts his commentary to the Epistle to the Romans as affording a basis for determining his dogmatic position, a considerable source of material is denied to the conscientious investigator at the outset. Accordingly in this thesis I have only once quoted from the Romans.

I do not believe that at this stage it is possible in any comprehensive fashion to compare and to contrast Earth with Calvin, upon whose teaching many of our Reformed standards are based. At Christmas 1936 I had my first opportunity of discussing this thesis with Earth personally. When he was informed that I was dealing with his relation to the Reformers, he asked: "And what do you find?" Having in mind the formal aspect of our subject - in which we are convinced there is substantial agreement between Earth and the authors of our Confessions - I replied: "You agree with the Reformers". Whereupon he said: n l have just written an article,'as yet unpublished, in which I disagree with Calvin in eight different points". One might instance in this connection, moreover, an article written by Earth in Theologische Existenz heute, Gottes Gnadenwahl, in which he takes exception to Calvin's doctrine of predestination.

Earth has already published, however, an exposition of the Apostles' Creed, and in his treatment of the doctrine of the Trinity in his doctrine of the Word of God an exposition of the Nicene Creed. We therefore know his stand in relation to these standards of the Church. But the most satisfactory method of comparing Earth with our Reformed Church standards is on the basis of the Barmen Confession of 1934 of which he is the author. Herein is summarised the fruits of Earth' dogmatic work. In the second part of this thesis I propose to analyse and compare the Barmen Confession, proposition for proposition, with some thirteen of the most important of our confessional documents. In the prosecution of this work we shall discover certain differences in the historic standards themselves. Some will be found to speak on particular themes on which others are silent. An effort will be made to adjudge Earth on the basis of a consensus of the Reformed symbols. In this thesis only scant attention will be paid to the controversies which divided the Lutherans and Reformed Churchmen, as they have not been nor are live issues in our Church.

Under the doctrine of the Word of God, Earth comprehends the doctrine of Church proclamation. Although he nowhere sets forth a systematic presentation of the doctrine of a Confession of Faith, we have been able to do so by re-arranging material collected from all his writings. When the subject of The Relation of Karl Earth to the Historic Creeds and Standards of the Church was first suggested to me by Dr John Macconachie of Dundee, and later confirmed by the late Professor Hugh Mackintosh and the Ph.D. Committee, I was keenly conscious of the importance of the work not only for the University but also for the Church. If the Church's Confession of her Faith becomes a vital question again in the religious and political life of Scotland, as it has in recent years in Germany, I am persuaded that the material contained in this thesis will be of tremendous value. Consequently I have endeavoured to give a complete, authentic and systematic presentation of the doctrine of a Confession of Faith in Part I of this book. Here are set forth answers to all those knotty questions such as, Who can confess? Can the State be the author of a Confession? Do Confessions destroy the unity of the Church? What authority has a Confession? In what sense is it binding? What are the marks of a true and false Confession? Is the Short Statement of the Church's Faith, issued by the Church of Scotland, a genuine Confession? What is the relation existing between a Confession and dogmatics? What is dogma? What is the difference between a Roman Catholic and an Evangelical Confession? Could the Church of Scotland write a Confession to-day?

Part I of this thesis is not a commentary on the theology of Karl Earth. It is rather an honest attempt to set forth his answer to the question, What is a Confession of Faith? and in his own words. Most of the material has never before appeared in English. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of Part I involved the translation of nearly 150 pages of German. At the same time I have constantly referred to the historic standards of the Church with a view to determining their answer to the question, What is a Confession of Faith? Attention, moreover, has been given to the writings of John Calvin who was the author of several, and the inspirer of most of our Reformed symbols. A special section dealing with Calvin and the Confession of Faith has been appended. On the other hand, not sufficient space has been devoted to the views of modern English-speaking theologians. To deal adequately with representatives of modern Protestant theology would over-burden the main thesis, and extend it beyond proper proportions. However, care has frequently been taken to show the pertinence for us of Earth's words which were originally addressed to the German situation.

The more original and critical contribution to the thesis is to be found in Part II, in which we deal with the significance of the Barmen Declaration, and its analysis and comparison with the confessional documents of the Reformed Church. Here we see how those very principles which are expounded in Part I are realised and applied. I trust, moreover, that the material provided in Part II will be no less valuable to the Church for a true understanding of the confessional heritage come down to her from the 16th century. A word needs to be said here concerning the bibliography given at the end of this book, and the use made of it. Besides a list of the works by Karl Earth and other writers quoted in this thesis, lists have been compiled of books in English dealing with the so-called 'Barthian Theology'. Although I am thoroughly familiar with most of the commentaries on Barth, and with the translations from the writings of Emil Brunner, with one exception, no use has been made of them whatever. Nevertheless, they have undoubtedly contributed not a little to inciting my interest and increasing my understanding of Earth's theology. What I owe to pioneers like Macconachie, Lowrie and Campfield would be difficult to assess. On the other hand, I am of the opinion that these commentaries are of little value in acquiring an accurate knowledge of Earth's thought. Indeed, some of them are definitely misleading, and most of them show a tendency to class Barth, Brunner, Gogarten and Bultmann together. I have also included a list of books by British and American theologians dealing with Creeds and Confessions historically and critically. Of these, Professor Curtis's well-known work is unquestionably the most exhaustive. The only book in English, however, which is at all comparable to the dogmatic character and scope of this present work is the long preface to Volume I of Dunlop's Collection of Confessions of Faith of the Church of Scotland. Unfortunately it exhibits those weaknesses of Protestant scholasticism of the early 18th century.