Karl, Kids, and the Kingdom of God, Part 1
“Deep Down, I’m Still a Child”
About the author: Rev. Catherine Tobey is a PhD student in theological ethics at the University of Aberdeen. Drawing on Karl Barth’s theology, her research centers children as the dynamic, interpretive key to understanding and witnessing to the Kingdom of God. She is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and a resident at Tall Timber Ranch, a camp and retreat center in Leavenworth, WA.
If I could have a theological discussion with anyone, it would probably be the musical artist Kesha. Before you discount me completely, you should know her music is deeply embedded with religious themes. However, what sparks my curiosity about the American singer-songwriter is her worldview. For example, she frequently refers to being a kid—connecting youth with a strong sense of identity, freedom, and action.
Take her 2012 album “Warrior,” for example. The title track goes, “We are the misfits / We are the bad kids / The degenerates / We ain't perfect but that's alright / Love us or hate us / Nothin' can break us / Better believe us / Times, they are changing tonight.” The song concludes, “Fight for the f*** ups / Stand up for true love / We'll never give up / Live like it's our last night alive.”
I wonder if this is how Kesha imagines the Kingdom of God.
In his 2016 dissertation, D.J. Konz concludes that for Barth, “the child functions as a pointer to the kingdom of God.”1 As I explore this connection in my own doctoral research, it seems there are three major ways in which Barth connects children and God’s Kingdom in Church Dogmatics. With Pentecost now upon us, the first theme is particularly relevant: We are all God’s children. For Barth, this is a Christological statement. Insofar as Jesus is a child of God, so too are we children of God. This is not a potentiality or a possibility; it is not related to human action or inaction at all. Barth explains, “It is true that God is with us in Christ and that we are His children, even if we ourselves do not perceive it. It is true from all eternity, for Jesus Christ who assumed our nature is the eternal Son of God. And it is always true in time, even before we perceive it to be true.”2
That we are all God’s children is also a universal claim. By drawing an analogy (instead of making a literal statement about Jesus as the biological child of God the Father), Barth simultaneously protects against notions of deification while securing humanity’s participation in Christ’s inheritance and vocation.
As an undergraduate student, I was enamored by both Kesha and Barth. The latter helped me understand an assurance of salvation that lifted a weight off my shoulders. The former helped me release anxieties that kept me from loving myself and others. I would venture to guess that the idea we are all God’s children is one that both would have in common. For Barth, at least, it seems to mean three specific things.
First, as children of God we are in fellowship. Rather than being alone, we are in fellowship with God the Father, who hears us and is faithful to the promise of the Kingdom of God. We are in fellowship with Christ (the light of the world), in our witness to the reality of the Kingdom of God. And we are in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, as we love and are loved by our neighbors, in reflection of the Kingdom of God.
What a perfect way to start discussing Pentecost, after all, we are in fellowship just like those who were gathered together in Acts 2. Plus, it is similar to the community described in Kesha’s 2017 song, “Hymn”. She writes, “Even the stars and the moon / Don't shine quite like we do / Dreamers searchin' for the truth / Go on, read about us in the news.” Critiquing organized religion, the refrain echoes, “This is a hymn for the hymnless, kids with no religion.”
Kesha goes on to explain: “After all we've been through / No, we won't stand and salute / So we just ride, we just cruise / Livin' like there's nothing left to lose.” This fellowship, as proverbial kids, concludes with the assurance, “If we die before we wake / Who we are is no mistake / This is just the way we're made / You know what I mean, you on the team.”
Second, as children of God we are free. According to Barth, we are free from the constraints of what constitutes social status, dignity, and importance—for these are transcended by the Kingdom of God. We are also free as we cling to God’s promise, rather than looking for meaning elsewhere. Finally, since there is nothing we need to do in order to become children of God, we are free to respond to God’s command, that is, witnessing to the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
I think we get a taste of this freedom in Acts 2:4, as folks gathered together on the first Pentecost: “Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.”3 The story continues as folks nearby were captivated by what was happening and came running.
This makes you think of Kesha’s 2020 song “Chasing Thunder,” right? Here, she reflects, “Baby, I'm not a rose, I'm a wild flower / Out of all of them, you chose one who'll run free forever / It doesn't mean I'm lost, I just like to wander / Got that gypsy blood, always chasing thunder . . . I'll keep running, chasing thunder.”
In Acts 2:5-11, the narrative continues, “When they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were blown away. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, ‘Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?’ . . . ’They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!’”
This brings us back to Kesha’s lyrics in “Chasing Thunder” which connect freedom and the presence of the Holy Spirit: “I heard a story years ago / From my grandmama, rest her soul / About a girl who'd never grow up, never grow old / Oh she was wild, she was free / Faced the fire fearlessly / That's the spirit, that's the ghost inside of me.”
Third, Barth concludes as children of God we have a future. This future is clear, new, and different. More specifically, the truth here is that God is for us—as children of God, we are embraced by grace. In the small scheme of things, this means our life is yet before us. But in the big picture, it means the world has been reconciled to God.
This is resonant with the end of the Acts narrative, where we are taken back to the words of the prophet Joel, who says, “'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams . . .” (Acts 2:17-18).
To no one’s surprise, it also brings to mind “Rainbow,” Kesha’s 2017 album! The title track connects children with the capacity to envision something good yet ahead. She sings, “I'd forgot how to daydream / So consumed with the wrong things, but in / The dark, I realized this life is short / And deep down, I'm still a child / Playful eyes, wide and wild, I can't / Lose hope, what's left of my heart's still made of gold.”
Barth has many more thoughts about what it means for the Kingdom of God to belong to children, and I look forward to exploring them in future posts. But for now, tracing the story of Pentecost with Kesha in mind is a fun way to spend a few hours.
Besides, it gives us a chance to consider how seriously we take the universal nature of Barth’s understanding of the Kingdom of God. Perhaps calling everyone a child of God feels like too wide a welcome for the church that acts like a private, social club. It turns out, though, everyone is a member . . . even Kesha.
D.J. Konz, “The Child in Relation to God, with Reference to the Theology of Karl Barth,” PhD diss. (University of Aberdeen, 2016), 4.
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics I.2 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1956), 240.
The Scripture passages in this piece are pulled from Eugene H. Peterson’s The Message translation (MSG).
I loved this article. I related to the issue of assurance and the freedom of the child. Insightful and revealing. Thank you.