Karl Barth Influence

In the wake of the First World War things were changing across Europe in every sector. Countries were trying to come to grips with the new technologies at their fingertips, to protect themselves from and prevent another such cataclysmic war, new political ideologies were on the rise in the form of communism and fascism, the United States was beginning to play a larger political role internationally, and new artistic movements led by individual reeling from trauma and loss were taking hold across the world. The established order was being challenged in all aspects of life. In the world of Protestant Christian theology this took form in the rise of thinkers such as Karl Barth and neo-Orthodox ideology. Barth, as Swiss theologian, refused to

This system involved a willingness to interpret biblical writings through the lens of modern philosophies and scientific understandings. Modern understandings of the world were meant to be utilized to challenge church dogma and form a new understanding of religious works (Gruber). The movement began in the wake of the Enlightenment in the late 18th century and influenced both Protestant and Catholic thinkers. Because of this, by Barth’s time it was one of the predominant theological philosophies in

Rather than using scripture and Christian doctrine to make modern philosophy egalitarian, and to justify a spread of thought, many Liberal theologians saw an opportunity to use religion to prove the superiority of their own understanding to the detriment of others. His teacher who signed the manifesto is just such an example. Upon consuming the works of outside theologians such as Kierkegaard and distancing himself from those he studied under, Barth developed a philosophy of complete rebuke. In 1919 for example, he writes “Paul appeals only to the authority of God. This is the ground of his authority. There is no other” (Barth “Karl Barth on the ‘Otherness’ of God.” 190). This reads as a direct attack upon the Liberal Christian tendency to use outside source of authority to be imposed upon the Bible. Furthermore, such an attempt to explain God with outside sources is futile,