Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.31823/d.26.1.5
The Relationship towards Roman Catholicism in the Early Works of Karl Barth
Lidija Matošević
orcid.org/0000-0001-9199-7931
; Center for Protestant Theology Matija Vlačić Ilirik, University of Zagreb
Abstract
The article discusses the question of the relationship of the Protestant theologian Karl Barth towards Roman Catholicism. It focuses on the period of Barth’s occupation as a part-time professor at the Department of Reformed Theology at the University of Göttingen. It is a formative period both for Barth’s theology as a whole, as well as for his relationship towards Roman Catholicism. The article presents the genesis of Barth’s interest in Roman Catholicism by placing it in the context of his dealing with Protestant theology itself and its history, or pre-history in the theology of the Middle Ages. The article shows how Barth’s attitude towards Roman Catholicism changed – from understanding Roman Catholicism as a kind of “heresy” similar to New Protestantism, to understanding Roman Catholicism as a form of theology and ecclesiastics whose, although problematic understanding of the possibility of the Word of God in the discourse of the Church, can become a critical stimulus to Protestant theology and ecclesiastics in search for its partially obscure identity.
Keywords
Karl Barth; Reformation Theology; Protestantism; New Protestantism; Roman Catholicism; Revelation; Scripture; Church Authority
Hrčak ID:
196746
URI
Publication date:
26.3.2018.
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