The Divine Forwards: Barth’s Early Exegesis of the Pauline Epistles

Watson, Brandon

Abstract

Karl Barth’s identification of the divine life in se and pro nobis has been the subject of wide debate in Barth scholarship. The thesis outlined in this essay is that Barth’s mature doctrine of election is not a material departure from an earlier position, but a more dogmatically elaborate position of his early biblical exegesis, particularly of Paul’s epistles. The basis for Barth’s innovative interpretation of the doctrine of election is not simply found in 1936(9) whereby Jesus is claimed to be the subject of election, but in his reading of Paul in the 1920s. To support this claim, Barth’s early exegetical lectures in both Göttingen and Münster are analyzed. In so doing, the essay contributes to a growing field of scholarship mapping the development of Barth’s doctrine of election and its consequences for theological construction.