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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The problem of this dissertation is to present and to analyze critically the doctrine of sin in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics, Volumes I/1--IV/3. First the Church Dogmatics is summarised in terms of the doctrine of sin, and three discernible periods, I/1--II/1, II/2--III/4, and IV/1--IV/3, are found. Following the exposition the teachings on sin for each period are restated, their respective Christological presuppositions shown and compared, and the tensions which exist between them explored. Next Barth's mature conception of sin, period three, is analyzed for its New Testament orientation. Finally, problems in Barth's mature doctrine of sin are presented, and a final evaluation is made. These are the major findings: In the first section, Volumes I/1--II/1, sin is portrayed as an objective reality which has drastically altered man's life. Man is under the judgment of original sin, is spiritually dead, and can know God only through the Word of God coming afresh to him. In Volumes II/2--III/4, there is a de-emphasizing of the nature of sin. Sin is objectively impossible. Jesus Christ is the genuine man who actualizes all other men. As He has already rejected sin, man's sin is rejected. From creation God has denied evil by rejecting certain possibilities. Sin is man's choice for these rejected possibilities, das Nichtige. The emphasis is on God's rejection and not on man's choice. Although man sins by choosing the objectively impossible, sin cannot destroy but only pervert. Jesus Christ is the higher truth. The basis for this new understanding of sin is Barth's Christo-absolutism which declares that Jesus Christ is God Himself, the ontic center of creation. Creation is instrumental to this historic center and is in both noetic and ontic synthesis with it. Creation has already been fulfilled in Him. Thus the following tensions arise. (1) Time has no intrinsic meaning since creation is fulfilled. (2) Creation loses its creaturely dimension in its synthesis in Jesus Christ. (3) Sin, overruled by Jesus Christ, has no intrinsic meaning. This entire perspective is found to be unbiblical. In Volume IV/1--IV/3, sin is re-emphasized. In the light of Jesus Christ's reconciliation, sin is seen to have greater reality as man's other determinant. Sin cannot change Jesus Christ's work for man, but man in sin achieves something powerfully real and brings chaos into creation. He contradicts himself damaging both his relationship to God and man. Only God's grace keeps man from falling into das Nichtige. Sin is overcome in Jesus Christ, but man's sinful past is still with him. This understanding of sin rests in Barth's new Christological emphasis that Jesus Christ still fights evil and suffers for sinful man. With this the categories of time, creation, and sin regain Biblical orientation. Barth's mature doctrine of sin is in the main obedient to the New Testament in teaching the following: (1) An understanding of sin must be drawn primarily from Jesus Christ's reconciling act. (2) Sin is volitional rebellion against God. (3) Sin's consequences are horrible, releasing das Nichtige into creation. (4) Evil is not only a power released by sin but attacks man. (5) Theology cannot give a rational explanation for sin without neutralizing it. (6) Man in sin faces judgment and condemnation. Barth does deviate from the New Testament, however, by not developing the law as a background for Christ's reconciling work. Our final evaluation of Barth's doctrine of sin in the third section is positive. The reader is confronted by such a compelling picture of Jesus Christ the Reconciler of sinful man that he knows himself to be a sinner. / 2031-01-01

This thesis explores and examines the concept of the threefold Word of God in the theology of Karl Barth, particularly the third form of the Word of God, the gospel proclamation, and argues that this tertiary form of the Word of God is central to Barth’s own theology of the church. This thesis argues that Karl Barth revised the concept of the threefold Word of God in the later volumes of the Church Dogmatics, but did not seek to reject the concept nor reject Christ’s presence and God’s speech in the gospel declaration and in the life of the Christian community. This thesis argues that the threefold Word of God is a crucial element in Karl Barth’s vision of the church and an important theme for the whole of his theological project. Disregarded by the field of Barth studies and rejected by modern ecclesiologists, Barth’s description of the gospel declaration and its central role in the life together of the Christian community offers an important ecclesiological alternative to carry forward for both Reformed theology and modern ecclesiology. This dissertation makes three significant contributions. First, this thesis is the first of its kind to engage comprehensively with Karl Barth’s concept of the threefold Word of God and to make clear its later revision. Second, this dissertation offers a review of the contemporary scholarly literature related to Barth’s revision of the threefold Word of God, and addresses the theological and ecclesiological implications of this revision. Third, this dissertation makes a contribution to the fields of Barth studies and contemporary ecclesiology by arguing for the central place of the third form of the Word of God in Karl Barth’s conception of the Christian community.

This thesis explores Karl Barth’s (1886-1968) argument for “The True Religion” in his 'Church Dogmatics' I/2, §17.3, particularly the four “aspects” (i.e., creation, election, justification, and sanctification). Because this thesis focuses on Barth’s theology of the true religion and its four “aspects,” it contributes to a knowledge of his theology of religion in general and the Christian religion in particular by offering a more holistic interpretation of his theology of religion as both wholly negative and wholly positive in contrast to the vast majority of scholarship which interprets Barth’s theology as only against religion. By using the retranslation of §17 wherein the infamous German word Aufhebung is rendered more correctly as “sublimation” (rather than the original “abolition”) this thesis argues that Barth’s theology of religion is not wholly negative; rather, that of all religions God solely sublimates the Christian religion. This thesis focuses exclusively on Barth’s Church Dogmatics and in chapter one it provides a thorough exegesis of §17 to show how the four “aspects” in his theology of the true religion are the culmination of his argument that the Christian religion is the true religion. This is accomplished by emphasizing Barth’s use of the simul iustus et peccator, which is the analogous paradigm to understand the Christian religion as the true religion, because even though the Christian religion is wholly sinful it is also wholly just as evidenced in God’s sublimation of it. In chapters two through five each “aspect” is respectively exposited first and then proceeds to the corresponding sections in the later volumes of Barth’s Church Dogmatics that display the strongest theological continuity with each “aspect” in order to demonstrate how they complement, correct, and complete his theology of the true religion. The first “aspect” on creation sees Barth stress the anhypostasis of the humanity of Jesus Christ, which has continuity with his theology of the affirmation of creation in III/1, §42, especially creation as justification. In the second “aspect” on election Barth employs the covenant between Old Testament Israel and the Christian religion, which he also utilizes in II/2, §34, particularly in the twofold judgment and mercy of God. In the third “aspect” on justification Barth emphasizes the theme of the forgiveness of sins, which corresponds to IV/1, §61, specifically the pardon of the sinner. The fourth “aspect” on sanctification, particularly the motif of proclamation, aligns with his theology of sanctification in IV/2, §66, particularly the praise of the Christian’s works. This thesis concludes by offering an ethical postscript, which derives from and builds upon its discussion and enlargement of the four “aspects” and prescribes a posture of humility in which the Christian religion must relate towards other religions because it is also still a religion. This ethic also includes a purified pride in which the Christian religion boldly proclaims to all other religions that God sublimates it alone into the true religion in the hope that the adherents of other religions will eventually join the Christian religion.

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