George Hunsinger - Karl Barth and Radical Politics

During 1972 , as I was studying at the University of Tbingen, a fascinating debate got under way about the influence of socialist politics on the theology of Karl Barth. The files which became accessible after Barths death in 1968 disclosed that during his early ministry in Safenwil, Barth was much more active in the socialist movement than had generally been recognized and that in some sense he remained self-consciously a socialist for the rest of his life. The point at issue was whether or not Barths socialist commitment had had a decisive impact on the shape of his later theology. Although it seemed to me that it had, once the connection was pointed out, competent Barth scholars were raising serious objections to any such view, and the matter seemed far from settled. After returning to the United States, I continued to follow the debate and was surprised that relatively little attention was being paid to it in the English-speaking world. Before long it occurred to me that a translation of some of the principal articles of the controversy might make an interesting and informative volume. The collection at hand contains a representative sample not only of the debate itself but also of the early socialist views which, I am now convinced, were to become absolutely crucial to both the development of Barths thought and the final shape of his theology. Barths theological work cannot fully be appreciated at any stage apart from his socialist commitment.

One cautionary word may be in order to readers in the English-speaking world. Barth never conceived of socialism as an ideology or a system of ideas. For him socialism was, rather, a series of concrete goals with strong affinities to the kingdom of God. Strictly speaking, therefore, the primary relationship which Barth saw was not between theology and socialism, but rather between the gospel and socialism, or better, between the freedom and love of the living God and socialism. Consequently, Barth did not set out to prove a logical relationship between theology and socialism, as between one set of ideas and another, any more than he attempted to prove the mystery of the incarnation. If theology was a secondary reflection on the concrete reality of God as proclaimed in the gospel, then socialism commended itself to theology to the extent that socialist goals conformed to those of God for the world. Theology is the conceptual clarification, not the logical deduction, of those goals. The relationship of theology to socialism, therefore, is not the relationship of theory to theory, but rather of theory to praxis.

I would like to acknowledge my indebtedness to the many people who helped make this book possible. I am especially grateful to Prof. Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt, who supplied invaluable assistance and support. Above all, my adviser at Yale, Prof. Hans Frei, a Doktorvater in the true sense of the term, gave generously of his time, work, and encouragement at every stage of the way. Responsibility for the final product is, of course, my own. I dedicate this book to the memory of my father, who once for a brief time thought he was a socialist, who suffered as a human being, and who died, with questions in his heart, as a Christian.