TY - JOUR

T1 - The Great Number of Strange Doctrines

T2 - On Speculative Theology

AU - Baark, Sigurd

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - The paper examines the epistemology of speculative theology. It presentsan account of how to recognize the legitimate theoretical constructs ofspeculative theology in the aftermath of the dialectical theology of Karl Barth.Using the conceptual tools developed by Barth, the paper focuses on his accountof the Miracle of Christmas in Kirchliche Dogmatik vol. I/2 in order to uncoverthree criteria for determining the truth-value of the various theoreticalconstructs of speculative theology: 1) the particularity of its meta-vocabulary,2) the dialectics of judgment and affirmation, and 3) its distinctive pneumatology.Concretely, the paper draws on Barth’s theoretical and practical insightsfrom the second Romans commentary from 1922 up to the Kirchliche Dogmatik I/1, and shows how his development results in a determinate form of conceptualmediation that could profitably be called speculative reading. The paper thentraces how the immanent rationality of revelation structures Barth’s reading ofthe Miracle of Christmas and brings to expression a series of distinctive conceptual characteristics that allow us to measure the truth value of his interpretation.Finally, the paper ends with a critical engagement of Robert Jenson’s influentialaccount of Barth’s pneumatological deficit in the Kirchliche Dogmatik.

AB - The paper examines the epistemology of speculative theology. It presentsan account of how to recognize the legitimate theoretical constructs ofspeculative theology in the aftermath of the dialectical theology of Karl Barth.Using the conceptual tools developed by Barth, the paper focuses on his accountof the Miracle of Christmas in Kirchliche Dogmatik vol. I/2 in order to uncoverthree criteria for determining the truth-value of the various theoreticalconstructs of speculative theology: 1) the particularity of its meta-vocabulary,2) the dialectics of judgment and affirmation, and 3) its distinctive pneumatology.Concretely, the paper draws on Barth’s theoretical and practical insightsfrom the second Romans commentary from 1922 up to the Kirchliche Dogmatik I/1, and shows how his development results in a determinate form of conceptualmediation that could profitably be called speculative reading. The paper thentraces how the immanent rationality of revelation structures Barth’s reading ofthe Miracle of Christmas and brings to expression a series of distinctive conceptual characteristics that allow us to measure the truth value of his interpretation.Finally, the paper ends with a critical engagement of Robert Jenson’s influentialaccount of Barth’s pneumatological deficit in the Kirchliche Dogmatik.

KW - Faculty of Theology

KW - Spekulativ teologi

KW - Karl Barth

KW - Jomfrufødsel

KW - Erkendelseslære

M3 - Journal article

VL - 56

SP - 108

EP - 124

JO - Neue Zeitschrift fuer Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie

JF - Neue Zeitschrift fuer Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie

SN - 0028-3517

IS - 1

ER -