ETHICS
Edited by
DIETRICH BRAUN
Translated by
GEOFFREY W. BROMILEY
WIPF & STOCK • Eugene, Oregon
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Ethics
By Barth, Karl and Braun, Dietrich
Copyright©1981 Theologischer Verlag Zurich
ISBN 13: 978-1-62564-375-9
Publication date 11/1/2013
Previously published by Seabury Press, 1981
© of the German original version
Theologischer Verlag Zürich
§2 Theological and Philosophical Ethics
§3 The Way of Theological Ethics
Chapter One The Reality of the Divine Command
§4 The Revelation of the Command
§5 The Command as the Command of God
§6 The Command of God as the Judgment of God
Chapter Two The Command of God the Creator
Chapter Three The Command of God the Reconciler
Chapter Four The Command of God the Redeemer
Appendix Theses on Church and State
Karl Barth would never publish in his lifetime the lectures on ethics which the editors of the Swiss Gesamtausgabe have now presented in two volumes that are condensed into one in this translation. Nevertheless the lectures are of considerable interest for all who have a concern for theology in general and the theology of Barth in particular. There are three reasons why this is so.
First, they form an essential link in the development of Barth’s own thinking as an ethicist. When he delivered them, Barth was at a crucial point in the movement from earlier ethical concerns to the larger theological conception which underlies the ethical chapters in the Church Dogmatics. As he understood it, dogmatic theology included ethics within its compass. Hence the demand arose for a rethinking of ethical foundations. Yet Barth retained a highly practical ethical interest and with his special concern to avoid legalism and yet to maintain a structured divine command he saw himself committed to an exploration of the implications of his dogmatics for actual Christian conduct both personal and social.
Second, the lectures clearly came to serve as a first draft of the ethical section of the Church Dogmatics. Already the outline is clear: an introductory chapter (cf. Church Dogmatics II, 2), then successive chapters on the command of God the Creator (cf. III, 4), God the Reconciler (cf. IV, 4 Fragment and the unfinished and unrevised Christian Life), and God the Redeemer (cf. the chapter projected for V). When the lectures are compared in detail with the available material in Church Dogmatics, it will be seen that Barth also made considerable use of the contents of these earlier discussions. He was to revise, expand, rearrange, and alter, and especially to drop the ...
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About EthicsOriginally published in German in an edition edited by Dietrich Braun, Karl Barth’s Ethics is at last available in English. This volume, containing lectures given as courses at the University at Munster in 1928 and 1929, represents Barth’s first systematic attempt at a theological account of Christian ethics. Although composed over 50 years ago, just prior to Barth’s 30-year devotion to Church Dogmatics, many of its themes, problems, and conclusions are astonishingly relevant today (his critique of competitiveness and of technology, for example). While this work is concerned with the foundations of ethics, it also reveals Barth’s highly practical interest in ethics and his special concern to avoid legalism and yet to maintain a structured divine command. Barth’s ethics are arranged on a Trinitarian basis, dealing in succession with the command of God the Creator (life), the command of God the Reconciler (law), and the command of God the Redeemer (promise). |
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