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“DEPRIVE THEM OF THEIR PATHOS”: KARL BARTH AND THE NAZI REVOLUTION REVISITED
Author(s) -
RASMUSSON ARNE
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
modern theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.144
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1468-0025
pISSN - 0266-7177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0025.2007.00388.x
Subject(s) - nazism , pathos , protestantism , philosophy , german , order (exchange) , theology , religious studies , linguistics , finance , economics
The role of Karl Barth's theology during the church struggle after the Nazi revolution in 1933 has been endlessly debated. I argue, first, that there is more continuity between “1925”, “1933”, and “1938” than most commentators have granted and that Barth never promoted an apolitical option. Second, I maintain that his theological imagination was restrained by the practices and structures of German (and European) Protestantism and his own acceptance at this time of a Christendom order. The church that his theology presupposed did not really exist.