Karl Barth’s Dialogue with Catholicism in Goettingen and Munster: Its Significance for His Doctrine of God

Amy Marga studies Karl Barth’s early encounter with Roman Catholic theology during the 1920s, especially seen in his seminal set of dogmatic lectures given in Goettingen, and his second set of dogmatic lectures, given in Munster and which remain unpublished. Her analysis demonstrates his search for a concept of God’s objectivity - Gegenstandlichkeit - which would not be dependent upon philosophically-laden concepts such as the analogia entis, but which would rather be anchored in God’s being alone. The author shows that Roman Catholicism, especially the thought of Erich Przywara, became the key interlocutor that helped Barth bring this clarity to his doctrine of revelation and the triune God.