Neo-Orthodoxy—From Kierkegaard to Barth .................................

Lecture 30

As we continue to trace the history of Protestant theology through

modernity, we come now to a 20th-century theological movement that

has been labeled neo-Orthodoxy. The key ¿ gure in neo-Orthodoxy

with whom we’ll spend a fair amount of time is the great 20th-century

theologian Karl Barth—probably, indeed almost certainly—the most

important 20th-century Protestant theologian.

N

eo-Orthodoxy is a 20th-century theological trend derived ultimately
from Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard is a 19th-century Christian
philosopher and Danish Lutheran theologian. He is the founder of
Existentialism because of his emphasis on human existence as a task (quite
different from the existence of trees and rocks and chairs). Kierkegaard thinks
of human existence as a task, and the key task is to become a Christian. He
reacts against the early 19th-century philosophies and theologies that see the
progress of human consciousness as proof of the superiority of Christianity.
Historical progress and proof do not solve the problem of how I, the existing
individual, am to become a Christian by the passionate inward decision
of faith. This inward movement toward faith must work through guilt,
anxiety, and even despair. For theologians
after Kierkegaard, “existential” is a label for a
passionate individual decision of faith, in the
face of anxiety and doubt, which no amount of
theology or proof can make for me.

Neo-Orthodox theologians replaced the Liberal
focus on consciousness with an Existentialist
focus on existence. Karl Barth initiated the
trend with a “dialectical theology” based on the
logical discourse of “yes” and “no.” For Barth,
knowledge of God is an “impossible possibility,” a revelation human beings
are incapable of, made possible only by “a perception ... which proceeds from
God outwards.” Rudolf Bultmann, a famed New Testament scholar, speaks
of demythologizing the worldview of the Bible and draws on Existentialism

Neo-Orthodox

theologians replaced

the Liberal focus

on consciousness

with an Existentialist

focus on existence.