- Title
- Theology as conversational event: Karl Barth, the ending of 'dialogue' and the beginning of 'conversation'
- Creator
- McDowell, John C.
- Relation
- Modern Theology Vol. 19, Issue 4, p. 483-509
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0025.00233
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2003
- Description
- It is not uncommon to hear the complaint that despite the voluminous nature of his writing, Karl Barth’s performance omits something vital to the health of theology, particularly one claiming attention to “public” places. James Barr’s comment is representative of one kind of objection. Barth, he says, “paid little attention to other people’s opinions”. This way of stating the problem somewhat leaves Barr vulnerable to the lazy reposte of listing occasions when Barth does approve of, cite, or discuss the ideas of other thinkers. Such a strategy of simple proof-texting is both frivolous and leaves Barr’s core suspicion fatally undamaged. The Barth of Barr’s account is one locked in his own theological world without feeling the need to be responsible to those who disagree with him. Hence, the audacity of the man is supposedly illustrated by the Gifford Lectures on natural theology at Aberdeen University in 1937–38 in which he deliberately ignores that theme and asserts that “no such subject existed to be discussed”. His theology, it would seem, illegitimately secures itself from critique, polices its narrow location assiduously and only lets in a few carefully vetted others when convinced that they can be useful. In contrast, through John Milbank’s distinction between dialogue and conversation in the context of interreligious communication it becomes possible to critique Barr’s understanding of “conversation” in a way that serves to hear Barth, and what it entails for theology to be “conversational”, significantly differently. Indeed, I will argue that “conversation” is an appropriate metaphor to apply to what Barth was doing with his theology.
- Subject
- theology; conversation; metaphor; theme
- Identifier
- uon:6448
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/803581
- Identifier
- ISSN:0266-7177
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