Date of Award

7-1968

Degree Type

Master's Essay - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Theology

Abstract

The meaning of analogy according to Karl Barth is worked out 1n precise detail in a section of the Church Dogmatics that treats the genuineness of man's knowledge of the Creator. Here Karl Barth establishes the validity of the analagous concepts he finds in the Sacred Scriptures and defines the frontiers and the truthfulness of man's knowledge of God. To really understand exactly what this theologian 1s doing here demands a contextual insight into the general works of the Church Dogmatics, to quote a happy phrase he addressed to one of his commentators, and vis-a-vis to allserious students of theology who wish to do more than merely thumb through his voluminous masterpiece: "But if anyone wishes to speak about me, he should have at least read me. That is not too much to ask." Contextually speaking, therefore, Karl Barth's line of development with the problem of the analogy of faith and relation presumes that the fulfillment of the knowledge of God derives from his understanding of how man stands before God and God before man. Furthermore, this knowability of God exacts a readiness on the part of man as well as finding a readiness on God's part. Finally, the limits of this knowledge of God are defined by the mysterious boundary lines of God's own hiddenness. Then, and only then, after careful consideration of these five areas can the reader adequately point with clarity to the meaning that Karl Barth attaches to the word 'analogy' and the genuinen.ess of this knowledge in God's divine search of creaturely and sinful man.

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