Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 38:1 (NA 1987)
Article: Barth - A Truly Biblical Theologian?
Author: Christina A. Baxter

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Barth - A Truly Biblical Theologian?

Christina A. Baxter

The Tyndale Historical Theology Lecture 1985

I

In what sense, if any, may Karl Barth be described as a truly biblical theologian? An answer to this question will not only require detailed examination of Barth’s Church Dogmatics, but also some consideration of what it means to be a biblical theologian.

If a biblical theologian is a person who is well aquainted with the whole of Scripture, Barth might be expected to pass the test with flying colours. A casual glance at the index of any volume of the Church Dogmatics shows a good spread of Old Testament and New Testament references: indeed, in the work as a whole every canonical book is cited except Esther. There are 4,648 separate references to the Old Testament and 12,270 to the New: an impressive score! However since these refer to only 46% of the Old Testament and 75% of the New Testament text, Barth obviously returns frequently to some passages, leaving a quarter of the New Testament and over half of the Old Testament unmentioned. Only Genesis, Song of Solomon, Jonah and Galatians are treated in their entirety, whereas over 80% of some books - Joshua, Ruth, Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Nehemiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai and 3 John are ignored.

Two questions arise from these statistics. Does Barth pass over biblical passages which are inimical to his views, or are they omitted for good reasons? When Barth does use material, does he quote it to agree with it or are there places where its inclusion really masks his refusal to take it seriously?

We begin with the first question. What does Barth omit and why? A few representative examples must suffice. Of the synoptic gospels, about a quarter is uncited, but often these are passages giving ‘stage directions’. For example, Barth does not refer to Matthew 8:18: ‘Now when Jesus saw the great crowds around him, he gave or orders to go over to the other side’.1 Other

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verses are ignored because Barth uses one of the parallel accounts.2 In epistles such as 2 Corinthians it is chiefly the passages where Paul is making detailed personal address to the Corinthians which are ignored3 whereas the more overtly theological sections, such as chapter 3, are employed.4 In the Old Testament, Barth does not make referen...