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Barth, Israel and Jesus: Karl Barth’S Theology of Israel

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Barth, Israel and Jesus: Karl Barth’S Theology of Israel BARTH, ISRAEL AND JESUS: KARL BARTH’S THEOLOGY OF ISRAEL ‘Your name will be Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.’ ———Gen 32:28 Barth, Israel and Jesus: Karl Barth’s Theology of Israel MARK R. LINDSAY Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge Fellow, Department of History, University of Melbourne Contents Preface ........................................................................................ vii Acknowledgments ........................................................................ xi List of Abbreviations ................................................................... xii Introduction ......................................... 1 1. Jewish-Christian Relations Since 1945 ................................. 7 Obstacles Along the Way ....................................... 10 Confessional mea culpas: Church statements addressing the Holocaust ....................................... 13 Nostre Aetate ....................................... 14 The 1980 Rhineland Synod ....................................... 18 Conclusion ....................................... 21 2. Barth and the Jewish People: the historical debate ........... 25 The Context of Controversy ....................................... 26 Reading Barth’s Ambiguity ....................................... 30 Barth and the Jewish People: how scholars have understood him32 Barth and the Jews: his personal relationships ........................... 38 Conclusion ....................................... 50 3. Karl Barth and Natural Theology: a case study of the Holocaust as a theological locus ....................................... 51 The Problem of Natural Theology ....................................... 53 The Holocaust and the Doctrine of Evil ....................................... 61 Outline of a Doctrine ....................................... 65 An Evaluation ....................................... 70 Conclusion ....................................... 74 Postscript ....................................... 75 4. Barth and the State of Israel: between theology and politics 79 Out of the Ashes: The 1948 (re-)creation of Israel ....................... 80 The Creation of Israel in the ‘Doctrine of Creation’ ..................... 85 De Gubernatione and the King of Israel ........................................... 89 The History of Israel as a Witness to the Rule of God ................. 98 Political Support for Israel as a Theological Necessity .............. 111 5. The Function of ‘Israel’ in ‘The Doctrine of Reconciliation’115 Christological election as the presupposition of dialogic possibilities ..................................... 118 The Jews in the Far Country ..................................... 123 The Royal Man ..................................... 128 The Ministry of the Reconciled Community ............................... 130 Conclusion ..................................... 141 Name Index ..................................... 147 Subject Index ..................................... 151 Bibliography ..................................... 153 ••••••••Acknowledgments The author gratefully acknowledges receipt of permission to cite from the following: · Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, eds. G.W. Bromiley & T.F. Torrance, vols. III/3, IV/1, IV/2, IV/3.1, IV/3.2. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1936- 1961. Reprinted with kind permission of Continuum International Publishing Group. All rights reserved. · Letter, C. von Kirschbaum to Paul Vogt, 12 November 1938; ‘Einladung’, December 1938; Letter, C. von Kirschbaum to Paul Vogt, 27 January 1939; Letter, C. von Kirschbaum to R. Gelpke, 7 June 1939; Letter, K. Barth to E. Nobs, 25 June 1944; Letter, K. Barth et al to the Swiss Federal Council, 4 July 1944. All from the Karl Barth-Archiv, Basel. Reprinted by permission from the Karl Barth-Stiftung (Basel, Switzerland). All rights reserved. The author also acknowledges with grateful thanks receipt of the following, without which the writing of the book would have been made far more difficult: · Sternberg Visiting Fellowship in Interfaith Relations, Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations, Wesley House, Cambridge. Preface As is the lot of many younger scholars, the joy of seeing my doctoral dissertation published in late 2001 was tempered by the realization that I had completed merely the first instalment of what, if the job was to be done properly, could only be at least a two-part study. Now with the second part completed, I find myself part of what can only be described as something of a renaissance in Barth scholarship. The recently- established Online Bibliography of Karl Barth—a joint venture between the Center for Barth Studies at Princeton and the Theological University of Kampen in the Netherlands—is ample evidence of this renaissance, with new and exciting contributions being made in recent years from every part of the world. Similarly, in 2006 Princeton Theological Seminary and the Karl Barth Society of North America will host the inaugural ‘Annual Karl Barth Conference’. Everywhere, it seems, Barth scholarship (and appreciation) is on the increase. The small addition of this book will serve, I trust, a double purpose. As well as hopefully adding something of value to the existing scholarly literature on Barth’s enduring theological legacy, it is my hope that through this book I will also be able to make a contribution—or better, show that Barth himself has already made a contribution—to the cause of Jewish-Christian dialogue. Since 9/11, a great deal of theological effort has rightly gone into the delicate work of Christian-Muslim reconciliation. While undoubtedly a long-overdue and vitally necessary task, it remains my belief that the history of Jewish-Christian relations is in even more need of deep repair, largely because it has been a longer and (as we may tend to forget in light of recent experience) a far bloodier engagement. The anxiety that greeted the death of Pope John Paul II and the subsequent election of Benedict XVI, amongst those who have worked for so long toward better understanding between Christians and Jews, illustrated how fragile the relations still are. There are hopeful signs that Benedict’s pontificate will not alter substantially the tremendous gains made under John Paul II. Nonetheless, progress in Jewish-Christian relations can never be taken for granted, and much work still needs to be done. The role of Karl Barth—by general consensus the greatest Protestant theologian since Luther—in assisting or, in the view of his ix critics hindering, the reconciliation between Jews and Christians remains a contested subject. Given on the one hand the importance of seeking peace between these two faith traditions that between them account for some 2.5 billion people, and on the other hand Barth’s stature within the theological world, it is vital that these two criteria of modern theology (I would argue that Barth’s stature accords him status as a theological criterion) be brought into conversation. That is what this book aims to do, as a service both to inter-faith dialogue and to Barth scholarship. * There are, as usual, many people to thank, without whose assistance this project would never have been finished. Sarah Lloyd at Ashgate has been invaluable from the start, with her encouragement, always timely advice, and wholehearted support of the book’s validity. I can only offer humble apologies to her (and all the editorial team) that, in spite of my sincerest intentions, I found myself watching helplessly as deadlines came and went! Martin Rumscheidt, albeit from the other side of the world, has been of greater encouragement to me than I can say. Ever since reading his analysis of the Barth-Harnack correspondence I have looked up to him as a scholar of the highest integrity and insight. I can think, therefore, of no greater compliment than to be called by him ‘a fellow Barth scholar’, and no one from whom such a compliment would mean more. I sincerely hope that this book does justice to his faith in me. Paul Molnar, whose editorial advice was crucial to the completion of my first book, has continued to be a source of gracious and warm- hearted encouragement. I thank him most sincerely. Ed Kessler, Lucia Faltin, Gwyneth Bodger, Melanie Wright—indeed all the staff, as well as my students, at the Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations in Cambridge; I am deeply grateful for the opportunity of spending four months with them in mid-2005 as the Sternberg Visiting Fellow in Interfaith Relations. Not only was it a wonderfully stimulating and enjoyable sabbatical, it also provided me with the time and space I needed to complete the research for this book. It would be remiss at this point to not also mention the many friends among the staff and students at Wesley House in Cambridge that I and my family made during our four months there: Fran, George x Barth, Israel and Jesus and Adam Bailey, David and Ros Hollingsworth, Steven Plant, and Grant and Marie White, to name but a few. In particular, I must sincerely thank Sir Sigmund Sternberg, from whose generous benefaction my Cambridge fellowship was made possible. While in the UK, I was privileged to accept invitations to speak on Barth and Bonhoeffer to seminar groups in the Divinity Schools of the Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews. These presentations, and the questions raised by the students in response, were immensely helpful to me in tightening some of the key arguments I propose here. To Mario Aguilar (St. Andrews),
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