Theological Journal – January 28 Torrance Tuesday – Four Traits that Made Barth a Great Theologian according to T. F. Torrance

Thomas Torrance was close to Karl Barth, studied with Barth, was a primary editor of Barth’s Church Dogmatics, and was asked by Barth to continue writing the unfinished Church Dogmatics (CD) after him. He has influenced many Anglo-American students to give Barth a fairer hearing than he was wont to receive in the Anglo-American world during much of the 20^th century. His book Karl Barth: An Introduction to His Early Theology 1910-1931 lists four traits that he believed made Barth a great theologian.

#1 An Inquisitive Mind

“Barth has the most searching, questioning mind I have ever known,” notes Torrance. He estimates that all the questions Barth raises would fill “hundreds of hundreds of pages.” Barth discovered that the liberal theology he had been taught had been exploded by him seeing many of his esteemed professors sign on in support of the Kaiser’s war policy in 1914. In reworking theology from the ground up he had to ask lots of questions! With them Barth sought to self-critically clear the way for God’s Word to speak. Torrance comments, “This questioning is forced upon us because face to face with God’s Word we know ourselves to be questioned down to the very roots of our being, and therefore in response to the impact of the Word we are thrown back upon self-criticism, upon a repentant questioning and rethinking of all that we have and are and claim to know.”

#2 A Childlike Willingness to Learn and Listen

Torrance writes, “Barth has an uncanny ability to listen which is accompanied by an astonishing humility and childlikeness in which he is always ready to learn.” Further, he says, this is the “the secret of Barth’s hermeneutics, whether he is interpreting Holy Scripture or interpreting the thought of another theologian.”

Barth listened and listened well to the great theologians of the church, and his critical appreciation of their work always came first and foremost from this place of listening. This doesn’t mean he always got them right or was altogether fair in his assessments, but he did try.

This is how he tried to read the Bible as well. “Biblical exegesis takes place therefore in a strenuous disciplined attempt to lay ourselves open to hear the Word of God speaking to us, to read what the Word intends or denotes and to refrain from interrupting it or confusing it with our own speaking, for in faithful exegesis we have to let ourselves be told what we cannot tell ourselves.”

#3 Creativity

“Another typical characteristic of Barth which we must give attention is his sheer creative power, his ability to produce something new.” Even though Barth preferred Mozart Torrance likens him to Beethoven. Beethoven shocked listeners will his ability to weave together apparently contradictory themes into a unified composition with a multi-faceted texture. His revolutionary reworking of the doctrine of election is a parade example of this.

Torrance also finds this creativity in what he takes to be Barth’s main theological theme: “From first to last Barth’s main theme has been the turning of God in utter grace in incredible condescension to man to be man’s God, so that what we are concerned with in the Gospel is the sovereign togetherness of God with man and the exaltation of man to share in the divine life and love.”

#4 Joy

“There is one other aspect of Barth, both as a man and as a theologian, which we must select for mention: his joy and his humour.” Barth himself writes, “The theologian who labors without joy is not a theologian at all. Sulky faces, morose thoughts and boring ways of speaking are intolerable in this field.”

Torrance gives two examples of Barth’s joy and humor. First, his elevation of the aforementioned Mozart to rank of “church father.” And second, this from CD III/2, which says, “What a pity that none of these apologists consider it worthy of mention that man is apparently the only being accustomed to laugh and to smoke.”

Further, Torrance notes that Barth writes with joy not because he is necessarily a joyful person, but because God is a God of supreme joy. This was important to Barth especially in the post-World War 2 world where he remembers lecturing to students who had forgotten how to smile. Torrance calls him Barth an exemplary theologian of the frui Deo, of the enjoyment of God.

Conclusions

How Barth lived and worked at his theology may be as important as its specifics. He

-was not afraid of asking difficult questions,

-was humble before the truth, and therefore willing to listen carefully to the testimony of the scriptures and others,

-worked hard to craft a new and innovative theology, and

-was a joyful and humorous person, because God is a joyful and humorous God.

May his number increase and may we be among them!