Introduction:
During my second year of Seminary, I had the pleasure of taking a yearlong “theology and ethics of Karl Barth” course at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary taught by Dr. John Burgess. The year accounted for three credits hours in which we covered Karl Barth’s “Church Dogmatics Volume 3: The Doctrine of Creation Part 4.” The setup of the class was to read anywhere from 25-40 pages of Barth a week and produce a detailed outline of the material in the readings. We then would meet once a week to discuss the readings. At the end of the course, we were asked to prepare a 20-page paper that covered a main theme in the Church Dogmatics Volume. This series of blogs consists of sections from my paper that I wrote for the course. As you will see in the posts, I was specifically impressed by Barth’s discussion of ethical issues in the light of the Command of God and what he calls the exceptional case to that command. There are many other things that I loved in this volume that are not covered in these post, and I am in no way claiming to have fully comprehend what Barth is getting at, I just want to share some of my thoughts in hope to continue my theological pursuit after seminary!
After a thorough discussion of Barth’s views concerning the Command of God in the light of specific ethical issues of the everyday life of an individual, there are certain things that become evident. The first is that Barth has a high respect for the Command of God and what it means for humanity. If at all possible Barth believes that the Christian should follow the Command wholeheartedly. The second is that respect for the Command of God shows that Barth draws a profound respect for human life and the preservation of it. The third, Barth respects the Command of God enough to not limit the Command to an absolute principle, and leaves room for the Command of God to be a living rule, in the lives of believers allowing for the Command to change in the exceptional case. The next part of the essay will focus more deeply on these three conclusions drawn from Barth’s discussion.
For Barth, humanity obeying the Command of God is an essential factor for the preserving of the life of all people. It speaks the truth in a world that is filled with lies and provides order in a world that would otherwise be chaos. It also provides guidelines for humanity, and for a proper relationship with God. Barth sees this relationship of humanity to God as a very active lively relationship in which the living God reigns in the lives of Christ-followers, and the believers are provided freedom to follow God where they are led. This relationship and freedom as shown above leads Barth to believe that there cannot be a limit to the Command if it is truly acted out in the context of a relationship and freedom. Barth sees the Command of God as something that is constantly being spoken (living Command); as opposed to something that was only spoken many years ago (written Command). This shapes his entire view of Church Dogmatics and it certainly shapes how Barth understands his section on the “Protection of Life”. The written Command is the guide given to man to interpret the active Command of God. Barth does not believe that humanity should disregard the written Command especially what is recorded in Holy Scripture. If at all possible Barth believes that those Commands should be followed and obeyed above all other things. But Barth wants to allow freedom for the Command of God to reign and this includes taking into account different circumstances that people may face. In the context of an active relationship, God may encourage a person to perform an act that is against the written Command.
This respect for the Command also leads to the respect of human life. The present demand “thou shall not kill” resonates to Barth and the importance placed on the human life by God. This is not to suggest that human life is special in and of itself. Apart from the Command and relationship with God, human life lacks meaning and falls short of its intended purpose. Nevertheless, the Command of God is active and alive. This means that it is not just those who read the Bible that are impacted by the Command of God, but all people in the world have some interaction with the Command whether they realize it or not, because the Command of God is alive and active. This is the purpose given to humanity by which Barth understands all ethical issues. This is why Barth can say the Church’s duty is to remind the state that it is to seek peace in all its affairs, and reframe from taking lives if at all possible. This is not just a suggestion for Barth it is a demand from the Command of God. Nevertheless, if the state has truly acted out all oppositions to facilitate peace without any success and the threat of harm still remains then Barth feels that the Command of God could very much be saying to enter into war to preserve human life and bring peace.
