Being in act: ontology and epistemology in Karl Barth's doctrine of God

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to explore and analyse Karl Earth's doctrine of God in relation to the problem of act and being. Traditionally the problem of act and being has been formulated in terms of the relation between episteaology and ontology, between the mental act in which the knowing subject acquires knowledge of the object and the being of the object which presents itself to be viewed in this way. In accordance with this definition of the problem, the question arises as to the extent to which this problem is a problem for theology and its attempt to give an account of its knowledge of the being of God. Should it elevate the knowing subject to the primary position and with him emphasize the epistemological issue? Or should it instead take over categories of being and think first of all of the ontology underlying its subject-matter^ Or should it, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer suggests in his own lucid analysis of the problem, attempt a synthesis of the two?This thesis argues that in view of the contribution of Karl Barth to this discussion, all three of these alternatives are to be rejected in favor of his specifically theological solution. And what is this? In brief it is that in the light of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, the problem of how it is possible to relate our theological concepts to God's being becomes transformed into the problem of hew ought we to think of God so that our thinking is obedient to his self-revelation. Consequently, for Barth, the problem of act and being 'as such' is not a problem. Barth is not interested in epistemology and ontology 'as such'. But by looking away from this problem as a problem for theology, and hence, by looking towards the act in which God reveals his being. Barth provides a genuinely theological solution to the problem, culminating in his understanding of God's being in Mb act. Here, within the reality of God's self-revelation lies the possibility of true knowledge of God's being. Here within this reality a possibility is indicated for a genuine theological episteiaology and theological ontologyThe bulk of the thesis is devoted to exploring the shape of Barth's understanding of God's being in his act. The contours of this understanding are manifest in the correspondence between God's act of self-revelation and his being the trinitarlan basis of that act in himself. This correspondence thus grounds both 'being' and 'act' in God and thereby relativizes and qualifies these terms for theological use in accordance with God's revelation of himself. This grounding, relativising and qualifying occur, according to Barth, on the basis of God's electing will. Hence, the doctrine of election is the starting-point for understanding the shape of Barth's doctrine of God, and with this, the shape of his understanding of the theological task.We begin by defining the problem and by examining critically several alternative solutions. Next we consider the context in which Barth takes up the problem immediately prior to his treatment of it in the Church Dogmatics, and hear some criticisms of his understanding of this context. Thirdly we examine the way in which Barth approaches the problem in the Church Dogmatics, and note the methodological legacy of Anselm and Athanasius. We move on then to discuss the correspondence between God's being in his act of revelation and the activity within his triune being. It is a short journey from here to an analysis of Barth's theological epistemology in his doctrine of the knowledge of God. This analysis is followed immediately by its counterpart in our discussion of Barth's doctrine of the reality of God and his perfections.We conclude 'with a last look at the doctrine of election and a "brief glance at ethics.In view of the task thus described, we may summarize our thesis in the following manners what God's being is is made known only in his acts his act, however, is not groundless but is grounded in his being as the subject of his act. Accordingly God's being must be understood in terms of his 'being in act', Epistemological and ontological concepts are legitimate and possible to the degree that they obediently reflect the activity and direction of God's being. The activity and direction of God's being point to the self-grounded move¬ ment of his 'being in act', a movement to which Barth testifies in his central dialectic of unveiling and veiling, love and freedom, Gospel and Law, As the One who loves in freedom, this God is active within his am triune being, and indeed his triune being is made known exclusively as his 'being in act'. As we will argue, this summary statement thus indicates both the formal complaint of Barth against the Thomistic approach to theology and its emphasis on being ascendent over act (analogia entis) as well as his material objection to Neo-Protestantism's determinative concern with the act of appropriating God's revelation apart from any ontologieal considerations. But this polemical aspect of Berth's treatment of the problem derives from his overriding concern to witness to the unity aid precedence of God's being in his act.