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3 Re-Creation and Recreation Barth’s Eschatological Perspective on Culture The difficulties posed by the application of Barth’s “true words approach” are, I have argued, due to misunderstanding the subject matter of §69 as one concerned with a theology of culture rather than a theology of the Word. The result is a theological approach to culture that, in practical application, would seek to mine culture for instances of “true words,” but Barth points to the exceptional and often ambiguous nature of such words. Seeking them out, therefore, cannot be the everyday task of the theologian of culture. Moreover, as this chapter will demonstrate, this approach simply takes theology and culture too seriously, running against the grain of Barth’s own attitudes toward and analyses of culture. Rather than seeking “true words” or revelation, the routine task of the theologian of culture involves exploring cultural forms in terms of their innate cultural task. Recognizing culture’s distinct task and value avoids any temptation to treat culture as a mere instrument for the work of theology. It avoids compromising theology’s commitment to its determining object and protects cultural forms from distortion or exploitation. The building blocks for this kind of approach are found in Barth’s pneumatological eschatology, which creates space for the “free play” between theology and culture that is a central goal of the theology of culture put forward in this project. Barth chose eschatology as the location in which to discuss the theological import of art and humor, not as a locus for true words, but as theologically worthwhile in themselves. Their native secular function alone points them toward the fulfillment of their task. In order to construct this model, we will briefly lay out the central features of Barth’s eschatology, making explicit the central role of the Spirit, especially in relation to human subjectivity and creativity. Placing theology of culture under the heading of eschatology will provide the necessary concepts for achieving 83 the goals described above, concepts that seem to govern Barth’s view of culture: hope, freedom in limitation, encounter, release, and play. Over the next several chapters, we will draw out Barth’s eschatological/ pneumatological approach to culture, and we will begin to see a place (even in Barth’s theology!) for a theological appreciation of popular entertainment and its value, understood in terms of its distinct eschatological task, which will be defined in terms of its contributions to play, relaxation, and fellowship. Barth’s Eschatology AN OVERVIEW OF BARTH’S ESCHATOLOGY Barth never wrote the final volumes of the Dogmatics on the doctrine of redemption, making it difficult to uncover the precise details of this doctrine and how it would have been further developed in relation to creation and reconciliation. However, we might summarize the major points of Barth’s eschatology articulated in his extant works as follows: The eternity of God is such that past, present, and future exist in simultaneity, allowing the “not yet” coming of the Kingdom of God to be “already” a reality through the Spirit’s promise that our redemption is guaranteed, as is our final future existence as children of God. This promise is the source of our hope, to which we respond with gratitude, having been liberated to an obedience that is freely and gladly given. This freedom includes limitation, understood as the eschatological limit that renders our creaturely time merely provisional in light of the finality and ultimacy of eternity, thus freeing us to live as little children playing before God. The concept of “parables of the kingdom” found in §69 leads us directly to eschatology. This Kingdom is the new creation, which exists not only as the future Kingdom, but as a present and this-worldly “new thing of God.”1 Barth understands this new creation not as a return to a pre-fallen state or as a totally different second creation, but as the removal of threats to creation. Creation exists as the external basis, or theatre, of the covenant of grace and its fulfillment in redemption, while the covenant is the internal basis of creation: “The history of this covenant is as much the goal of creation as creation itself is the beginning of this history.”2 To put it differently, creation is the formal presupposition of this promise, while the promise is the material presupposition of creation: “creation takes precedence historically, the covenant does so in substance.”3 Thus, redemption represents the fulfillment of the covenant as God...

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