Mo’ Barth

A few thoughts triggered by Barth’s 1.1 of Church Dogmatics:

1. While Barth isn’t married to the idea, he is willing and gives slight blessing to allowing theology (ie. dogmatics) to be labeled a “science”. He is sufficiently made ill by the various dangers associated with so doing. He will not afford any other realm of study the bar to which theology must be measured. The protestant liberals of Barth’s day, no less than ours, were interested in having the Church and theologians in particular justify themselves before the court of human reason, materialistic science, and logic. Barth will not bow to the gods of the Englightenment Pantheon. Theology must be judged upon its own principles. The Church must study, critique, and reform itself from within.

2. That said, retaining the term “science” for all its baggage could be an insightful tool working to accomplish the very opposite of what we fear. That is, while we do not want the language of the Church (ie. theology) scrutinized by extra-ecclesiological standards, we do want every other sphere held up to the scrutiny of God’s word. This is not exhaustive of course, but in general, the methodology of theology should inform the methodology of every other science.