Sino-Christian Studies - Issue 29 (2020)

Authors & Affiliations: Tseng S.K., Institute of Religious Studies, Zhejiang University, China

Pages: 121 - 156

Abstract: The second edition of Karl Barth's Epistle to the Romans (henceforth Romans II) became an epoch-making classic upon its publication in 1922 by issuing a serious challenge to the reigning paradigm in German theology at the time. Existing secondary literature on Romans II easily fills a bookshelf or two, and many authors have chosen to focus on the dialectics featured in this commentary. Barth's impossible-possibility dialectic in Church Dogmatics III/3 has also attracted much scholarly attention. However, the use of this dialectic in Romans II has curiously remained a mostly untapped aspect of his writings in both German and English Barth studies. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the significance of the dialectic between possibility and impossibility in Romans II by arguing that it undergirds the central themes of the opus and provides a framework that supports the entire commentary. This dialectic, originally drawn from scripture, encompasses a robust dialogue with philosophical and theological viewpoints from the Long Nineteenth Century. The final section of this article shifts its focus from the text of Romans II to Barth's theological developments thereafter, examining the re-emergence of the long-abandoned impossible-possibility dialectic Church Dogmatics HE/3 to balance the soteriological objectivism of his mature doctrine of election in an attempt to avoid the "christomonist" overtones of which his christocentric ontology has been accused. In a word, to appreciate the uniqueness of Romans II in the successive stages of Barth's theological development, the significance of the impossible-possibility dialectic cannot be overstated. Copyright © Chung Yuan Christian University.

Keywords: (neo-)Kantianism; Impossible possibility; Karl Barth; Kierkegaardian dialectics; Romans