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Disruptive Presence: The Ontology, Theology and Ethics of Reading the Bible as Scripture in Karl Barth’s Theological Exegesis Denni Boy Saragih Doctor of Philosophy University of Edinburgh 2015 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has been composed by me. The work presented in this dissertation is mine and has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Denni Boy Saragih July 2015 i Abstract The dissertation offers a new reading of Karl Barth’s hermeneutics in relation to the task of the church in reading the Bible as Scripture. The study argues that the distinctiveness of Barth’s hermeneutics lies in its complex coordination of several doctrinal loci in construing biblical hermeneutics. In this reading, the church’s interpretation of the Bible is theologically located in the reality defined by the Trinitarian decision to be God in Jesus Christ. The relationship between the Word of God and the word of man is decided by God’s election of God’s being in Jesus Christ. As a contribution to Barth studies, the work offers a corrective reading of Barth’s earlier account of biblical hermeneutics in the doctrine of revelation by drawing the insights of Barth’s later theological ontology in the doctrines of election and Christology. The church’s reading of scripture is reformulated in the ontology of being in becoming in which the freedom of God in revelation is coordinated with the history of God in Jesus Christ. As such, it maintains the continuity and the discontinuity between the biblical natural history and the divine address to the church. The practical implication of this approach is not a method of interpretation but an ethics of biblical interpretation as a human response to God’s communicative presence. As an activity of listening to the Word of God, the church’s reading of the Bible is marked by moral freedom in obedience and responsibility to the Word of God. But the divine presence is not only communicative but also commanding, and it remains “a disruptive presence” that challenges the church to be faithful to her calling as a creature of the Word of God. ii Lay Summary The dissertation offers a new reading of Karl Barth’s theology of interpretation. There are two major contributions of this dissertation to its academic community. First, it offers a new analysis of the structure and coherence of Barth’s theological hermeneutics as a contribution to Barth’s scholarship. Second, it offers a new analysis of the distinctiveness of Barth’s hermeneutics as a contribution to broader discussions of the conditions and aims of textual interpretation. In relation to the first, this work presents a synthetic account of Barth’s theology in relation to the task of the church to read the Bible as Scripture. It offers a new reading of Barth's hermeneutics by i) drawing upon the insights of earlier commentators on Barth's theology of the Word of God, but ii) reading and adjusting this material through the lens of Barth's subsequent work. Specifically, this work identifies and analyses the underlying intellectual commitments that forms Barth’s hermeneutics from its earlier development to its mature reformulation. In relation to the second, this work offers a new constructive account of Barth’s hermeneutics in sharp contrast to some other influential analyses of the dynamics of meaning and understanding. The work argues that the strength of Barth’s theology lies in its ability to coordinate several theological loci to formulate a complex account of human understanding. In this regard, this dissertation interprets Barth’s hermeneutics in his early theology, and analysed it in conjunction with his mature theology to provide a new constructive account. The synthetic result is strongly recommended for its theological specificity. The presentation of this new synthesis is structured as Barth’s ontology, theology and ethics of interpretation. The five main chapters of this study can be divided into two parts. Chapters 2-3 survey the scholarship and the background of Karl Barth’s hermeneutics. The purpose is to highlight the distinctiveness of his hermeneutics and the interrelation of various doctrinal loci in his early formulation of theological interpretation. Chapters 4-6 are a constructive interpretation based on a thematic reading of Barth’s later writings and a close examination of some important sections. The reading is an empathetic attempt to understand the logic of Barth’s hermeneutics within his theology as a whole, while also questioning and engaging Barth’s thinking in a wider context of hermeneutical and ethical theories. iii TABLE OF CONTENT Declaration ..................................................................................................................................... i Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Lay Summary ................................................................................................................................ iii Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ vii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II: PERSPECTIVES ON KARL BARTH’S HERMENEUTIC AND EXEGESIS ......................................................................................................................... 11 1. A Survey of Approaches to Karl Barth’s Hermeneutics ..................................................... 11 1.1. The non-hermeneutical proposals ..................................................................................... 12 1.2. The hermeneutical-oriented proposals .............................................................................. 14 1.3. The exegetical-oriented proposals ..................................................................................... 19 1.4. The genetic-theological proposals ..................................................................................... 24 1.5. The theological-historical proposals ................................................................................. 30 1.6. Conclusion: a dogmatic approach ..................................................................................... 35 2. Defining the task of theological interpretation of Scripture ............................................... 37 3. Defining ontology, theology and ethics ................................................................................ 41 CHAPTER III: KARL BARTH’S HERMENEUTICS AND EXEGESIS IN THE EARLY PERIOD ................................................................................................... 46 1. Barth’s exegesis and hermeneutics in the Epistle to the Romans ....................................... 50 1.1. The first step: historical exegesis ...................................................................................... 51 1.2. The second step: an attempt at understanding ................................................................... 57 1.3. Conclusion: Barth’s theological exegesis in the Epistle to the Romans ............................ 68 2. Barth’s Exegesis in other Commentaries ............................................................................ 69 2.1. The Resurrection of the Dead............................................................................................ 69 iv 2.2. The Epistle to the Philippians ........................................................................................... 73 2.3. The Gospel of John............................................................................................................ 75 2.4. Construing a paradigm for theological exegesis ............................................................... 80 3. Ontology, theology and ethics in Karl Barth’s early hermeneutics and exegesis ............... 81 3.1. The development of Barth’s ontology of interpretation .................................................... 82 3.2. Formulating a theology of interpretation ........................................................................... 86 3.3. Proposing an ethics of interpretation ................................................................................. 88 4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 90 CHAPTER IV: KARL BARTH’S ONTOLOGY OF INTERPRETATION