12 - The use of the Bible in dialectical theology

Summary

Dialectical theology is a term widely used to refer to the theology associated with the journal Zwischen den Zeiten (ZZ), which ran between 1923 and 1933. Early observers identified Karl Barth and Friedrich Gogarten as the leaders of the movement, along with Barth's friend Eduard Thurneysen. This chapter concentrates on the movement from Barth's first Romans commentary in 1919 to the collapse of ZZ in 1933, and discusses Barth's 1916 paper: The Strange New World within the Bible. It highlights five major dimensions of the use of the Bible by Barth and the ZZ contributors. The emphasis on the presence of God in Scripture is bound up with the priority of eschatology in the exegesis of dialectical theology. Dialectical theology came to an end in 1933 with ferocious attacks by Barth on Gogarten and on Emil Brunner. It remains to be seen how the passionate advocacy of Scripture as the unique form of divine revelation will fare.