established’.^226 The eschatological dimension may in some ways serve
similar purposes to‘the universal need’expressed by contemporary
thinkers like Jüngel. In the aftermath of two world wars, dialectical
theology was a current that sought to establish the theological view of
the individual in a new way, as a relational entity that is fragile and
dependent on external forces that influence our being. For Bultmann,
faith means a renunciation of the old existence and an expectation of
new being.^227
Bultmann’s biblical grounding of the idea of recognition can be
regarded as the apex of the modern theological discussion that starts
from Spalding and Schleiermacher. Like Schleiermacher, Bultmann
can say that God relates to people through an act of salvific downward
recognition. The biblical grounding provided by Bultmann makes
recognition not merely a sporadic notion but a biblically established
concept that relates essentially to religious knowledge and faith.
When we compare Bultmann to contemporary thinkers like Jüngel
and Honneth, the only missing semantic feature is the universal
human need for recognition; Bultmann’s eschatological emphasis
may even serve some needs for such universal fulfilment.
Karl Barth clearly and programmatically departs from cultural
Protestantism, establishing a theology based on God’s self-revelation.
Barth’sChurch Dogmaticsis the most influential Protestant theo-
logical work of the twentieth century. When Barth describes the act
of faith, he employsAnerkennungto define his relationship to the
tripartite division of faith in Protestant orthodoxy. Instead of the
traditional division into knowledge, assent, and trust, he launches
another tripartite division: as human act, faith is acknowledgement,
knowing, and confessing (Anerkennen,Erkennen,Bekennen).^228
Barth claims that this act as a whole has only cognitive character,
not creative. He nevertheless adds that this act is a‘confirmation of a
change that has already taken place’. In some sense, people exercise
an activity that qualifies them as agents.^229 The entire tripartite act of
faith has as its object Jesus Christ and the conviction that this Christ is
for me. This appropriation is thefirst thing to acknowledge, know,
(^226) Pistis, 212–13, 217; E, 213, 216. (^227) Pistis, 223–4; E, 222.
(^228) Kirchliche Dogmatik(KD) IV/1, 839 English translation (E, ed. T. Torrance and
G. Bromiley), 751. The English translation has‘acknowledgement, recognition, and
confession’.
(^229) KDIV/1, 840; E, 752.
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