Apocalyptic, Parabolic, and Disability Theologies in Barth Studies
Book Notes #1: Celebrating Women's History Month at the Barth Center
Hello, everyone! My name is Hank Spaulding, and I am an editor for the God Here & Now Magazine. I am delighted to share that, this month, we will begin a new segment called “Book Notes.” This new segment will provide a monthly highlight of current and past research in Barth studies to bring attention to the many wonderful works and scholars in the field.
For this first edition of Book Notes, we highlight three brilliant scholars in Barth studies writing on diverse themes. In honor of Women’s History Month, we chose Shannon Smyth, Kendall Cox, and Lisa Powell and their recent work to present their voices to our readers.
Shannon Nicole Smythe, Forensic Apocalyptic Theology: Karl Barth and the Doctrine of Justification (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016), ix–224 pp., $79.00 (hardcover)
The first book is Forensic Apocalyptic Theology: Karl Barth and the Doctrine of Justification by Shannon Nicole Smythe. Dr. Smythe is the Director of Field Education and Vocational Placement at Princeton Theological Seminary. In this text, Smythe takes up the task of connecting Reformation Theology of Justification and the recent apocalyptic trend in Pauline studies. Smythe examines the mature work of Karl Barth, especially his understanding of justification, to begin a conversation between current Pauline studies and Reformation theology. Barth is deeply entrenched in the work of both schools and remains a significant figure they continually engage. Smythe argues that the mature Barth’s revised doctrine of justification resonates with both Pauline apocalyptic theology and a forensic, Reformation perspective as well. The connection creates a new category for studies of Barth’s theology of justification, which Smythe terms “forensic-apocalyptic.” This new category creates stronger ties between Barth and Reformation/Pauline apocalyptic theology. The result is an interpretation of Barth’s theology that resists certain criticisms of traditional forensic accounts of justification while making Barth more consistently forensic than Reformed thought alone.
Smythe’s book provides a different account of the relationship between justification in Paul and the Protestant doctrine. It will be of special interest to theologians and biblical scholars working in the field of Pauline studies, as well as those who share sympathies with the apocalyptic approach. In addition, this work breaks new ground in a Protestant theology of justification, making compatible recently incompatible schools of thought. Thus, Smythe’s work heals as much as it constructs new pathways of inquiry.
Kendall Walser Cox, Prodigal Christ: A Parabolic Theology (Waco: Baylor University Press. 2022), xi–288 pp. ,$64.11 (hardcover)
The second book is Prodigal Christ: A Parabolic Theology by Kendall Cox. Dr. Cox is the Director of Academic Affairs for the Templeton Honors College at Eastern University. The work that she gives to us is also another example of breaking new ground in Barth studies. Dr. Cox brings Barth into conversation with an unlikely partner, namely medieval mystic theologian Julian of Norwich. By placing these two theologians in conversation, Cox develops a parable of divine life. Cox performs a Christological reading of the Prodigal Son parable to show how God’s love for the world takes place as a “primordial prodigality” in the person of Christ. Cox brings Barth and Julian to bear on this reading of Luke through a complex use of Paul Riceour’s concept of a metaphorized narrative which, for Cox, aligns intertextual threads in both Julian and Barth to bring the parable to life. Through this method, Cox unites Julian’s beautiful account of Divine Motherhood with Barth’s reflections on the Humanity of God. As such, Cox illustrates how both figures not only interpret Scripture through Christology, but perform theology in a parabolic mode. Readers will come away not only with new insights and connections between Barth and Julian, but a striking original depiction of Christ’s journey into the far country to bear humanity’s burden as God’s own.
Scholars and students alike will benefit from the careful reading of Barth and Julian in this text. It breaks new ground in Barth studies and offers a genuinely novel reading of God’s life that will not fail to inspire.
Lisa D. Powell, The Disabled God Revisited: Trinity, Christology, and Liberation (London: T&T Clark. 2023), vii–150 pp., $22.95 (paperback)
The final book is The Disabled God Revisited: Trinity, Christology, and Liberation by Lisa Powell, Professor of Theology and Women and Gender Studies at Saint Ambrose University. Unlike the previous two works, the theology of Karl Barth plays a reduced yet still significant role in the argument. The purpose of the text is to revisit the foundational text in theologies of disability, The Disabled God (1994) by Nancy Eiesland. Powell examines and amplifies the claim originally made by Eiesland, namely that God is disabled. Powell provides an alternative understanding of the Trinity, Christology, and resurrection, to name only a few doctrines, so that the traditional claim to God’s independence and autonomy might face greater criticism. Powell’s shift away from divine autonomy to interdependence is argued through a covenant ontology, which occurs first through God’s decision for covenant with humanity. To complete this shift, Powell uses Karl Barth to fully articulate a covenantal ontology. Powell claims that “the cosmos... is not an add-on to a self-sufficient God who existed in primordial loving relation within God’s own life.” (54) Instead, “God self-constitutes as triune in order to be in covenant and to embrace that creation within God’s very being.” (54) Thus, Powell challenges any claim concerning God’s autonomy and independence. Not only in the incarnation, but in God’s very triune life there exists a movement toward embodiment and, as Powell presses, embodiment in impairment. As such, a covenantal ontology risks “the fulfillment of God’s identity in the human activity of Jesus.” (69) By grounding this open reception of humanity, Powell thus resists a subordination of the Son in the life of God (70–72). The end goal of this work details an account of eschatology in general and resurrection in particular. Powell provocatively claims that the impaired body at the heart of the life of God requires the conclusion that able-bodies do not persist eschatologically. Instead, humanity, as they join God in the resurrection, moves toward greater vulnerability, transparency, and interdependency.
Powell’s book breaks new ground in Barth studies by conversing with The Disabled God. Readers of Barth should pay attention to Powell’s claims of covenantal ontology and seek greater clarity in their understanding of resurrection, Trinity, and Christology.
This concludes our first-ever book notes. I hope you enjoyed our brief exploration of these three innovative texts and consider patronizing their publishers. If you would like to provide lengthier reviews of these texts for the Barth Center and receive a free copy, please email barth.reviews@ptsem.edu. See you next month for our next edition of Book Notes! — Hank Spaulding, PhD
Many thanks for these comments on the three books. This will make a good addition to the various fine items offered us by the Barth Center.
In regard to the 3rd review, and a book I've not read yet, it would be interesting to bring it into conversation with John Webster's "God Without Measure", vol 1, in particular chapter 2 on God's 'aseity' and 'inseity' - God's "Life in and of Himself".