Beyond Immanence

Critical insights into Kierkegaard’s influence on Barth’s theology. 

Karl Barth was often critical of Søren Kierkegaard’s ideas as he understood them. But close reading of the two corpora reveals that Barth owes a lot to the melancholy Dane. Both conceive of God as infinitely qualitatively different from humans, and both emphasize the shocking nearness of God in the incarnation. As public intellectuals, they used this theological vision to protect Christocentric faith from political manipulation and compromise. For Kierkegaard, this meant criticizing the state church; for Barth, this entailed resisting Nazism.   

Meticulously crafted by a father-son team of renowned systematic theologians, Beyond Immanencedemonstrates that Kierkegaard and Barth share a theological trajectory—one that resists cynical manipulation of Christianity for political purposes in favor of uncompromising devotion to a God who is radically transcendent yet established kinship with humanity in time.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Paul Martens
Acknowledgments
Introduction  
          1. Kierkegaard’s Audience and Approach  
          2. Kierkegaard on Creation and Christology, against Hegelianism
          3. Karl Barth’s Stand against Idealism, Cultural Religion, and Nationalism
          4. The Theological Implications of God’s Kinship in Time
          5. Barth’s Appropriation of Kierkegaard  
          6. Engaging in Secular Society
          7. Beyond Immanence  
Conclusion  
Bibliography 
Index