Recognition and Religion A Historical and Systematic Study

and confess.^230 Barth considers that with regard to this appropriation
he agrees with Luther, the Pietists, and Wilhelm Herrmann.^231
Against Protestant orthodoxy Barth pleads for the primacy of
acknowledgement:

Christian faith is an acknowledgement (Anerkennen). In our descrip-

tion of that taking cognisance (Kenntnisnahme, i.e. the generic cogni-

tion) this must comefirst....Knowing (Erkennen) is certainly included

in the acknowledgement, but it can only follow it. Acknowledging is a

taking cognisance which is obedient and compliant, which yields and

subordinates itself. This obedience and compliance is not an incidental

and subsequent characteristic of the act of faith, but primary, basic, and

decisive. It is not preceded by any other kind of knowledge, either

knowing or confessing.^232

In this quote, Barth continues the criticism of orthodoxy present in
Pietism, Schleiermacher, and cultural Protestantism. Barth empha-
sizes the primacy ofAnerkennenin a particularly robust manner,
which is not far from Bultmann’s biblical claims. Both dialectical
theologians thus consider that the knowledge of faith basically
means acknowledgement.
Like many of his predecessors, Barth further claims that the imme-
diate object of such recognition is not a doctrine but Jesus Christ
as person:

Acknowledgement as the basic moment in the act of Christian faith has

reference to Jesus Christ himself—presupposing, of course, the medi-

atorial ministry of the Christian community which is His body and the

consequence of active acknowledgement of its existence and the desire

to be a member of it. It has reference to the fact that the community

represents in the world, to the person by whom it is constituted and

who is its living law.^233

Barth again remarks here that he seems to agree with Wilhelm
Herrmann and Rudolf Bultmann.^234 Barth is famous for his rejection
of the conditions of modernity; for instance, he does not want to
reduce religion to consciousness or to proceed from a human reli-
gious perspective. For this reason, the agreement is noteworthy. Barth
considers that the agreement pertains primarily to their common

(^230) KDIV/1, 843; E, 755. (^231) KDIV/1, 844; E, 755.
(^232) KDIV/1, 847–8; E, 758. (^233) KDIV/1, 849; E, 760.
(^234) KDIV/1, 850; E, 761.
162 Recognition and Religion