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Justin DaMetz's avatar

Thanks for this beautiful reflection Dr. Barton. Your critique of Barth's lack of lament in his theodicy seems to me to open the space to bring him into conversation with another great theologian, Jurgen Moltmann. In "The Crucified God", Dr. Moltmann writes beautifully of Jesus' cry on the Cross as the ultimate lament of God for God's very own people and the suffering we all experience in life.

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James F. Kay's avatar

Dear Professor Barter,

Several years ago Robert Scharlemann of the University of Virginia gave his Presidential Address to the American Academy of Religion comparing and contrasting the respective theologies of Karl Barth and Paul Tillich. The title of that unforgettable address touches on your excellent appreciative and critical reflection: "The No to Nothing and the Nothing to Know." Barth's "No to Nothing" exemplifies the Triumph of God's grace, but it is difficult to hear or share it in light of such recurring events whether at Auschwitz or Palestine and Gaza. There is, therefore, a "Nothing to Know" as Tillich holds, and not just noetically, but experientially--albeit sometimes vicariously--and to which only the laments of both Testaments attest. Thank you for your insightful and timely paper. James Kay

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