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1 Geistpr Geistproblem oblem and Kulturpr Kulturproblem oblem Barth’s Response to Schleiermacher Any project that makes use of Karl Barth for the purpose of linking together what are arguably his two biggest fears—a theology of the Spirit and a theology of culture—must first account for how this will be accomplished without doing violence to Barth’s theology. Indeed, Barth was apprehensive about the consequences of placing pneumatology and theology of culture in close, mutual relation. In relation to both, Barth’s allergy was influenced by his aversion to modern theological trends toward the deification of human achievements that, in his view, led theology to be uncritical of and eventually absorbed by secular culture—trends that he traced back to a single source: “the common denominator was and is indeed Schleiermacher.”1 In his lifelong struggle with Schleiermacher’s theology (“old love never fades”2), Barth was always accompanied by the noisy congregation of nineteenth- and twentieth-century theologians who drew their inspiration from this venerable forefather and who therefore greatly influenced Barth’s own reading of Schleiermacher.3 By exploring Barth’s reaction to Schleiermacher and his legacy, the following will provide a context for Barth’s critical assessments of modern pneumatology and theology of culture for the purpose of exploring his constructive contributions to both. Barth’s KRIEGSERKLÄRUNG on Schleiermacher Barth’s theological education began in Berne, where his father served on the faculty. He then spent a brief but formative semester studying under Adolph von Harnack in Berlin, where he purchased his first copy of The Speeches. He later travelled to Marburg where Wilhelm Herrmann became “the theological teacher of my student years.”4 Here, Barth fully embraced Schleiermacher, 29 whose “Speeches were the most important and correct writings to appear since the closing of the New Testament canon.”5 In 1909, he became an assistant pastor in Geneva, delivering sermons in the very same pulpit as John Calvin. “However,” he recalls, “I’m afraid that Calvin would hardly have been very pleased at the sermons which I preached in his pulpit then.” Eberhard Busch offers some startling examples: Typical of his sermons were remarks like, “The greatest thing is what takes place in our hearts.” Or, “To each man goes out the call to be true to himself, namely . . . to that model of the best that anyone can become.” He told the congregation: . . . “Dear friend, think seriously about yourself.” As he explained “Before I can know God, I must know myself.” He introduced Goethe’s Faust as “without doubt a true Protestant.” The congregation learnt that “Calvin’s view of the authority of the Bible would be quite wrong for us.” Critical light was shed on the Ten Commandments: “Sometimes they contain too much for our needs and sometimes too little.” And once for a whole sermon he argued that “James wrote the section which we are looking at now in a weak moment.”6 Luckily for Barth, Genevans were not the church-going type (historically so, not even when truancy could get one hauled before the Consistory for a formal scolding from Calvin himself7). For example, when visiting the sickbed of an elderly citizen, Barth asked him which church he attended and was met with this response: “Pastor, I’ve always been an honest man. I’ve never been to church and I’ve never been in trouble with the police.”8 Barth later wrote: “I never regretted having tried to foist all that historicism and individualism on the people in Geneva, but in any case, they weren’t having any.”9 Though his Marburg education remained at the forefront early on (having now acquired copies of Schleiermacher’s sermons), it was only while serving as pastor of the small agricultural/industrial village of Safenwil that Barth began to grapple with the twofold problem of how he could truly preach the Word of God and how his congregation could truly hear the Word of God.10 Human words seemed to be all he could offer and all they could receive, and this was clearly not enough. The outbreak of war and the release of the “Manifesto of the 93 German Intellectuals” (1914) in support of the Kaiser’s war policies drove him further from his liberal ideals. Seeing his mentors, Harnack and Herrmann, among the manifesto’s signatories was a “twilight of the gods,”11 transforming theology 30 | Playful, Glad, and Free [18.218.70.93] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 08...

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