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Westminster Speaks Posted August 21, 2010 By The Westminster Archivist, Grace Mullen, recently uncovered an interesting artifact. In 1934, a book review was published in The Globe of Toronto entitled Karl Barth and Christian Unity. The review sparked a short series of letters to the editor between Walter Bryden, former professor at Knox College in Toronto, Canada, and John Murray, co-founder and professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. The interaction has been reprinted in its entirety below with a present-day response by Rev. Dr. Carl Trueman. A Religion of DespairKarl Barth and Christian Unity by Adolf Keller, DD, LLD (Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada) Dr. Keller has a wonderful knowledge of contemporary Christianity throughout the world. He here gives us his conception of Karl Barth's movement, and its effect on the different denominations of Christendom. He portrays the reactions of Barthian theology—“a theology more negative than positive. Barthians are the true gravediggers of idealism.” “The German Christians share this teaching on repentance, but rebuke his theology of the transcendent God as giving no solution to practical life problems, as defeatism. They accuse him of isolating the Church within the cultural life of the time—and of neglecting the great struggle against atheistic Bolshevism.” Lutheranism rejects the Barthian distrust of the message of Love, for its followers believe in the combined majesty love of God. To old Calvinism, Barthiansim seems a critical danger. Canon Raven of England calls it “a creed of despair.” On page 184, Dr. Machen is quoted. He insinuates that “the old supernaturalism, 'the fundamentals' of the infallibility of the Bible—the Virgin Birth, faith in miracles, redemption by the blood of Christ—are not a cure for all evils.” On page 206, Dr. Keller suggests that the dogmatics of Barth's theoloy joined to the warmth of the personal evangelism of the Oxford Groups “may be more accessible to the American mind as a new word for the times—then either of these new messages by itself.” On page 24, the author opines that a feature of Barthianism is profound pessimism. Surely this is not in accord with the Gospel which is “good news”—“tidings of great joy.” Professors and theologians will, we suppose, acquire from Dr. Keller's viewpoint a fairly accurate idea of Barthianism and its apparent effect upon different religious bodies. -E. K. A.; Unknown Date Karl Barth's TheologyTo the Editor of The Globe: The review, appearing in your paper under the caption “A Religion of Despair,” of Dr. Adolf Keller's book Karl Barth and Christian Unity is , in my opinion, likely to give to the readers a very imperfect impression of Karl Barth and his theology. Surely the reviewer does not believe, as the last sentence of his review would seem to imply, that a thinker like Karl Barth, recognized widely as the most challenging theologian in many years, needs to be introduced to professors or theologians at this late date. Any theologian who is at all alive to the significance of his responsibility has been aware for some time that Barth is the religious thinker of this day he has to conjure with. Barth No “Defeatist” To insinuate, as the quotation from Dr. Machen does, that Barth has undermined our belief in “the old supernaturalism, the fundamentals, of the infallibility of the Bible—the Virgin Birth, faith in miracles, redemption by the blood of Christ—are not a cure for all evils,” is simply to belie the whole position of Karl Barth. It is true that Barth does not identify the Word of God with the letter of Scripture. It is true, moreover, that Barth's and Machen's respective conceptions of the Christian faith are poles apart; but no one who possesses a living faith, that is, a faith informed by the Holy Spirit, will have difficulty in deciding which of these men's views approximate most nearly to that faith which animated the writers of the New Testament. A Misrepresentation It is to be hoped that Dr. Keller's book is not just another of those many recent books which have done more to conceal than to reveal what Barth really stands for. Indeed, we shall never know the significance of Karl Barth if we assume the position of a “Bystander,” or a mere critic; but if we can, in a personal way, humble ourselves before the terrific challenge which his writings undoubtedly bring, we shall, I believe, acknowledge that such a challenge is not very far from that which created historic Christianity itself. --Walter W. Bryden, Knox College, Toronto; January 31th, 1934 Barthian TheologyTo the Editor of The Globe: Two articles appeared recently in your paper with reference to the Barthian theology. The latter of these is a letter from the pen of Professor Bryden of Knox College, in the issue of Jan. 31. This letter appears to me to reflect an amazing situation. It is the situation that Professor Bryden's frankness reveals. He rightly acknowledges that Karl Barth “does not identify the Word of God with the letter of Scripture,” and that “Barth's and Machen's respective conceptions of the Christian faith are poles apart.” On both accounts I believe his interpretation of Barth is thoroughly correct. The perplexing feature is that he proceeds to say that “no one who possesses a living faith—that is, a faith informed by the Holy Spirit—will have difficulty in deciding which of these men's views approximates most nearly to that faith which animated the writers of the New Testament.” In professor Bryden's judgment, it is emphatically that of Barth. Barth No Calvinist The rank and file of Presbyterians and Bible-believing Christians in Canada may not be able to follow a discussion of many of the technicalities of the Barthian theology, but one thing they can and must understand is the difference between a faith that accepts the infallibility of Scripture as the Word of God and a faith that is compatible with radical Biblical criticism. The English reader can rely on the clear testimony of no less than Emil Brunner when he claims that the latter is the type of faith the theology of crisis represents (Cf. Brunner, “Theology of Crisis,” pp. 19, 20). Now, it is for this faith Professor Bryden is evidently prepared to do battle. The Westminster Confession Test Professor Bryden also frankly acknowledges that “Barth's and Machen's respective conceptions of the Christian faith are poles apart.” It is beyond challenge that Dr. Machen is one of the leading exponents of that conception of the Christian faith expressed in our Westminster Confession of Faith. It is to the system of doctrine contained in the Westminster Confession that he heartily subscribes both as minister and professor; and it is to the exposition, and defense, of that system of doctrine that he gives his life. He does this because he believes it is the system of doctrine contained in Holy Scripture, which in turn he believes to be inspired by the Holy Spirit, and infallible. It is for this Dr. Machen is both loved and hated the world over. Many will disagree with his conception of the Christian faith, but not even his greatest enemy can deny that this is Dr. Machen's conception of the Christian faith. If Professor Bryden will acknowledge, then, what is the indisputable fact, that Dr. Machen's faith is simply that expressed in the Westminster Confession, he arrives by simple logic at the position that Barth's conception of the Christian faith is poles apart from the conception embodied in the Westminster Confession. It is to Barth he grants the honor of approximating “most nearly to that of the faith which animated the writers of the New Testament.” And yet as minister and professor of the Presbyterian Church in Canada it is to the Westminster Confession that he has solemnly subscribed. Is this faith or consistency? --John Murray, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, PA, USA; February 6th, 1934 Prof. Bryden on BarthTo the Editor of The Globe: No very good purpose is ever served by theological controversy, but, in view of the fact that there has appeared a letter in The Globe on Barthian theology, in answer to a previous letter of my own on that subject, I feel obliged to give it consideration. The writer is evidently perplexed concerning the significance of a contrast I had made between the theology of Karl Barth and that of Dr. Machen; and is, moreover, concerned about my doctrinal relations to the Westminster Confession of Faith. He seems to take the position that to be at variance in any way in regard to what essentially constitutes Calvinism or Reformed Theology, from the particular interpretation put upon these by Dr. Machen, is to seriously jeopardize one's relations with the historic Reformed Church. Truths and the Truth Karl Barth honors the truths for which Dr. Machen contends, but places the supreme emphasis, so far as belief is concerned, in an essentially different place. Barth's central position might be epitomized in the Pauline dictum: “No man may say Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” That is to say, Barth is emphatic that the Lordship of Christ can neither be rationally conceived, nor externally demonstrated; but must be “spiritually discerned.” Faith is not merely the acceptance of a body of truths as such, even if they be Christian truths; but is rather the perception of such truths as the Truth, when borne home to the individual by the Holy Spirit alone. It is always to be remembered that in the early Church, Scripture did not create faith, but faith created Scripture; that the Holy Spirit, moreover, was that original creative and discriminating source, out of which emerged later our christian doctrines. Two Ways to Belief There seem, therefore, to be two very different conceptions of what constitutes faith (i.e., the experience of believing) represented here. And if this distinction be valid, it signifies a difference, momentous for all theology; indeed for all belief in Jesus Christ. If I may be permitted just another word, and that, concerning the Westminster Confession. One cannot even touch the significance of that confession in a letter, but two facts concerning it seem to stand out clearly, namely: That the framers of that Confession recognized it, and indeed all other confessions and creeds, as strictly subordinate—that is, subordinate to Scripture: That Scripture in and by itself was not the “Word of God” for an individual; but was such only to the man of faith who possessed the testimony of the Holy Spirit to that fact in his heart The Nature of Faith As I see it, Dr. Machen and Karl Barth believe in practically the same set of truths, as those essential to Christianity; but I am persuaded that these men are poles apart in their respective inner conceptions of that which constitutes faith itself. It is so much gain to have one's view confirmed in this regard by a member of Westminster Theological Seminary. Let me, therefore, again affirm that I am entirely with Barth in his conception of the nature of faith. --W. W. Bryden, Knox College, Toronto; Unknown Date
A Present-Day ResponseThese documents – a brief review by one `E.K.A.’ of a book on the theology of Karl Barth, and a subsequent exchange of published letters between Professor Walter Bryden, of Knox College, Toronto, and Professor John Murray, of Westminster, are of interest both historically and ecclesiastically. But what of the church? Well, while mere mention of his name can still send certain postgraduates into ecstasies, and there will always be those pointy-headed students who find particular pleasure in rebarbative language, obfuscatory vocabulary and manifold clichés such as `God’s being is in his becoming,’ the church scene is much grimmer. Indeed, I have never found a church where Barth’s theology is preached and where there is much in the way of spiritual vitality; the denominations that chose to follow his path are imploding under the weight of their own nonsense, and, read him as I have tried, I have found very little of use in my own preaching or pastoral work – unlike, that is, the works of Luther and Calvin to which, according to Bryden and others he is so closely related, or the works of Augustine, Aquinas, Owen and Turretin whose theologies he, to one degree or another, repudiated. And across Europe, the best that can be said is that his theology did nothing to halt the catastrophic collapse of Christianity since World War II. If Barth’s being is in his becoming, then it would appear that, outside of the postgraduate seminar room, he isn’t very much after all. --Rev. Dr. Carl Trueman, Professor of Church History and Historical Theology; August 7th, 2010 |