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Karl Barth's Understanding of the Lord's Prayer

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Karl Barth's Understanding of the Lord's Prayer KARL BARTH'S UNDERSTANDING OF THE LORD'S PRAYER DEREK SHANNON MELANSON B.A., Mount Allison University, 1995 Thesis subrnitted in partial &Ifilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Theology) Acadia University Spring Convocation 1998 O 1998 by Derek Shannon Melanson. All Rights Reserved. National Library Bibliothèque nationale 191 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON KIA ON4 OttawaON KtAON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loaq distribute or seU reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve ia propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiefs may be printed or othewise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. TkBLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................... vü Chapter 1. mODUCTION .......................................... 1 Barth's Significance as a Theologian Contemporary Situation Barth's Interest in Prayer II. INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY ............................... 1 7 Barth's 19th Century Background & Theologicai Heritage Barth's Life & Development as a Theologian III. THE LORD'S PRAYER AS A MODEL PRAYER ................. 42 The Importance of the Lord's Prayer as a Model Prayer The Meaning of the Lord's Prayer as a Model Prayer Introductory Remarks The Invocation The First Three Petitions: God's Glory as God's Cause The Last Three Petitions: The Christians' Cause as God's Cause Key Points in Barth's Exposition of the Lord's Prayer IV. THE LORD'S PRAYER AS A MODEL FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE ................................. -80 The Importance of the Lord's Prayer as a Model for the Christian Life The Meaning of the Lord's Prayer as a Mode1 for the Christian Life An Ethics of Love and Freedom Barth's Use of Analogy in The Christim Lfe Invocation of God The Object of Invocation The Subject of Invocation A Zeaious Prayer for God's Honor The Struggle for Human Righteousness Key Points in The Christian Life V. CONCLUSION .................. Surnrnary of Research Critical Issues Suggestions for Further Study Concluding Remarks SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ........ ABSTRACT This thesis examines Karl Barth's understanding of the Lord's Prayer, both as a model prayer and as a mode1 for the Christian life. For Barth, and much of the Christian tradition, the Lord's Prayer is the model of al1 Christian prayer, and his exposition of the prayer in Prayer as a model is examineci particularly against his Reformation iduences. Christian prayer cannot be separated fiom the Christian We; the two are inextricably intenvoven in Barthian terms. Barth's (ultirnately unfinished) exposition of the Lord's Prayer as a theological description of the ground and nature of Christian action in me Christian Life is also analysed. Through this study it is evident that Barth's understanding of the Lord's Prayer provides a more bibiically faitfil and theologically sound approach to Christian prayer than many other interpretations of prayer given in recent decades. It is also clear that Barth's presentation lends the church a more substantive account of the relation between prayer and ethics without wllapsing the former into the latter. Thus, Barth's understanding of the Lord's Prayer has both theoretical and practical significance for the individual Christian believer and the church at large. 1 would like to offer my genuine appreciation to the faculty and staff of Acadia DiWiity Colîege, who have supported, encouraged, and chaiienged me over the three years of rny study here. By God's grace they have consistently modeled Christian faitffiiness and integrity in the midst of the academy, and such exampies will see me in good aead as 1 continue my academic studies. I think especidy of Dr. Ailison Tntes, whose gracious presence and loving spirit, total lack of pretension, and clear and abiding faith in the living God, says as much or perhaps more about the nature of Christian scholarship, than his tireless and fhitfùl efforts in biblical studies. 1 also think of my advisor, Dr. Roy Wfiams, who has displayed an inspiring combination of biblical fait h and theological substance. 1 appreciated greatly my many classes with him. During the writing of this thesis he has been a consistent encouragement, and it has often been after meeting or speakuig with him that 1 found myself at my most productive. In that sense, he has been a true mentor and tacher, something which is al1 too often rnissing in the academy today. Finally, 1 want to acknowledge the many brothers and sisters in Christ I have encountered through Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in Atlantic Canada, whether staff or students. Many have proven themselves both mentors and fiends. They have often been a source of guidance and inspiration in my own waik witb the Lord, not least in the area of prayer. It has been a joy, a challenge, and a blessing to be involved in sening in university ministry with al1 of them. It is to them that 1 dedicate this thesis. vii nte Lord's Pruyer is the mosfperjiect of prayers. Thomas Aquinas Prayer dws no! blimi us fo this world; it askr Gdfor eyes to sec if in Iighl of Gd'srzghtemsness in Christ. Allen Verhey To clasp the hmtdr in prayer zs the beginning of an uprising against the dzsorder of the world Karl Barth CHAPTER ONl3 INTRODUCTION Barth's Signifiernce as a Theologian If there is any consensus concerning Neo-Orthodox theologian Karl Barth, it is that he remains the single most influentid theologicd mind of the twentieth-century. Moreover, he is of'ten mentioned in the same breath as such notable figures of Christian theology as Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, and Cal* and this because of his massive and original contribution to theology.' It is Barth who Uiitiated the theologicai shift fiom the nineteenth to the twentieth-century when he launched his sustained attack against Protestant Liberalism, exemplifieci by Friedrich Schleiermacher, Albrecht Ritschl, and Adolf von Harnack. In fact, it is with Der Romerbrief, his commentary on Paul's EpistIe to the Romans, that many scholars date the end of the nineteenth and the surrt of the twentieth-century of theology2 One of Barth's most notable students, Eberhard Jüngel, says that Karl Barth is the most significant Protestant t heologian since Schleiermacher, [and his] persond and iiterary influence profoundly changed the shape of Christian theology across confessionai boundaries, significantly altered the Stanley I. Grenz and Roger E. Olson, 20th Century n>eology: God & the World Ni a TransitionalAge (Downers Grove: IVP Press, 1992), 63. Cf. Daniel Jenkins, "Karl i3artiqn in eds., Martin E. Marty and Dean G. Peerman, A Handbook of Christian Theofogians eni. ed. (NashviUe: Abingdon Press, 1984), 396. ' For a discussion of Barth's Der Rdmerbrief see John D. Godsy, "The Intexpretation of Romans in the History of the Christian Faitb," hferpretation 34 (1980): 3-16, and William Nicholls, Systematic md Phifosophical Theology, The Pelican Guide to Modem Theology Vol.1 (Middesex, England: Penguin Books, l969), 83 - 100. direction of the Protestant church, and also left an unmistakable irnprint on the politics and cultural life of the twentieth century3 Writing in 1973, GeofEey W. Bromiley and Thomas F. Torrance remark that the ongoing demand for English translations of Karl Barth's work "belies the ever-recuning rumours that Barth's influence is on the wane."' Judging from the continuing spate of ment publications that deal with the theology of Karl Barth, it is aiso evident that this rernains the case even at the present tirne.' Most recently, Barth's influence can be seen in the Postliberal movement, of which he is considered a f~reninner.~ There are a number of ways in which Barth's significance can be seen. Fim, it is because of Barth that there has been a vigorous renewal of interest in the doctrine of the Trinity in the latter half of the twentieth-century. As Amencan theologian Robert W. Jenson says, "it is fkom Barth that twentieth-century theology has learned that the doctrine of the Trinity has explanatory and interpretive use for the whole of theology."' 3 Eberhard Jüngel, Karl Barth: A Theological Legacy, trans. Garrett E. Paul (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1 %6), 22. G.W.Brorniley and T.F. Tome, 'Editor's Preface," in Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 1.1. The Doctrine ofthe Word of God. 2nd ed. tram. G.W.Bromiley, eds. G. W. Bromiley and T.F. Tonance (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975), vii. 5 Some of the more recent studies include: David E. Demson, Hans Frei & Karl Barth: Diflerent CYqs of Reading Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997); John Webster, Barth 's Ethics of Reconcilation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Eks, 1995); Mary Kathleen Cunningham, What 1s Theological kegesis? Interpretation and Use of Scriphrre in Barlh 's Docirine ofElection (Valley Forge: Trinity Press, 1995); and Scott C. Saye, The Wild and Crooked Tree: Barth, Fi4 and Interpretative Communities,"Modern Theology 12:4(1996): 435-458. Coiin Gunton notes tbis as well, sayhg "at a time when his theology has generally been judgeâ to have its &y, this is a strange phenornenon." See Gunton, "The Christian Life. Church Dogmatics Volume iV Part 4, Lecture Fragments (Review)," Scottish Journal of Theology 36:3 (1983).
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