God and the creature in the trinitarian methodology of Karl Barth

Abstract

In this thesis we are concerned to present &n analysis of the development, meaning and implications of the doctrine of the Trinity in the thought of Karl Barth, as it relates to the question of the relationship between God and the creature.To this end we begin our presentation with an analysis of the development in which, it is contended, the doctrine of the Trinity assumed a constitutive place in Barth's theological programme. As a result of a critical re-appraisal of his first systematic work, which attempted a confrontation with theological realism and idealism in contemporary Protestant and Catholic thou^it, Barth is understood to have seen the doctrine of the Trinity as of continuing critical importance in his developing thought. Not least in the factors influencing Barth's thinking in this direction was his understanding of St.Anselm's theological scheme. The doctrine of the Trinity within the concept of his Prolegomena to Dogmatics served to emphasise the lesson that he learned from St.Anselm. For if the possibility and necessity of Theology are rooted and grounded in the nature of God's being who He is, then the doctrine of the Trinity within the doctrine of Revelation serves to emphasise that the possibility and necessity of Revelationufe rooted in God's self revelation. Dogmatics can only give an account of itself by describing the reality which posits the possibility and validates the truth of past, present and future revelation in and by its own actuality.We raise the question at the conclusion of this presentation whether Barth's way of understanding and expounding both the point of departure and the substance of the doctrine of the Trinity does not preclude appreciation of factors which have been felt to be important in understanding the Trinity. One of these is understood to be the relationship between the creaturely form of God's revelation and the life of the creature as such or its experience of God's salvation within the sphere of the church; where the soteriological purpose of the trinitarian economy is actively pressing towards a consummation in history.Subsequently we present an analysis of the relationship between Barth's exposition of the doctrine of the Trinity and Ghristology. The significance of this exercise is that it elucidates the relationship, presupposed by the event of God's Self revelation as subsisting between God and the creature, in terms of the unitive act in which God constitutes Himself as the creature's Lord in His Self revelation* Thus the creaturely form of revelation can only be understood in terms of the possibility which posits the actuality of God's Self revealed Lordship, The christological question is a viewirg from a different perspective of the same question by which the doctrine of the Trinity was raised to understanding: "Who" is the Self revealing God? It is a viewing of this question from the specific point of view of what this God who reveals Himself as Lord does for us and in us. The importance of the conclusions reached in this chapter relates to an understanding of how Barth, on the basis of his view of the worldly forms of revelation established in this context, considers the relationship between God and the creature which is presupposed by this event.When we therefore come to consider the doctrine of Creation and its orientation within Barth's systematic perspective we note that we can only posit the reality and possibility of creaturely existence as the technical possibility of the realisation of the divine compact and decision in which God determines Himself to be "Who" He is. Thus the doctrine of Creation is rooted and grounded in the doctrine of Election considered as part of the doctrine of God, Therefore the creature is raised to understanding in terms of the being and action of God who, in revealing Himself, presupposes the Self positing of His eternal election of Himself and the creature in the majesty of His freedom; which is the grace of Jesus Christ, Consequently, all the relationships between God and the creature, and creature and creature, are expounded in terms of this reality. Both the origin and goal, the goal because it is the origin, of all God's ways and works ad extra are seen to be rooted and grounded in the unity and diversity of God's self constitutive act in which He posits Himself as man's Lord,An analysis is then presented of the God-creature and creaturecreature relationship, in terms of what Berth's theological method presupposes and implies for understanding the question of knowledge of God and knowledge of the creature. This analysis serves to confirm the conclusions reached so far and to pose the question which is then taken up in our final chapter: the relative importance of the structures of creaturely existence in understanding the question of God's relation¬ ship to the world.In the final chapter we thus explore the issue of God's relationship to the creature by posing what we believe to be pertinent questions in understanding God's transcendence and immanence. In this we make use of material from both the Catholic and Reformed traditions. It is held that for both traditions the God-creature relationship entails a proper emphasis on the relative structure and being of creaturely existence in appreciating the full implications of God's creation.The view is expressed and developed that elements within the Eastern and Reformed traditions prove helpful in overcoming what is seen to be a lack, a methodological hiatus, in Barth's exposition of the God-creature relationship within a trinitarian context. As distinct from Barth's presentation we put forward the view that in understanding the Trinity in relation to creation it is necessary to see the unique and undivided act of God's self revelation in terms which provide, methodologically, for the meaningfulness of the worldliness of revelations form. That is, both the unity of God and the unity of God and the creature d"6. such as to be declared to us, not only amidst or with, but through and by the worldliness of its form. It is felt that the analysis of the event structure of revelation and its subsequent development in the doctrines of the Trinity, God and Creation, preclude Barth's appreciation of what we would see as an important aspect of the problem. Unless the worldliness of Christ is allowed to stand, determining how God speaks, we have nothing left in understanding God's relation to the creature but the intra trinitarian speaking and acting of God which presupposes the event of revelation ad extra. Instead we should understand God the Son and the unity of God's self revelation by means of the Sonship actually achieved towards man in the incarnate Christ. This Sonship, celebrated in the Spirit by the church's liturgy, is, as such, the means by which the church is pressed and called forward toward the consummation of the creature's vocation in history.