My aim in this dissertation is to address the issue of how nations are called to act responsibly in economic affairs. The basis of our study will be Barth's mature theology, and this in relation to a specific circumstance of economic poverty. My thesis is that Barth's mature theology leads one to conclude that economic life has its basis in social history. From this it follows that responsible political action in economic affairs involves social historical action.
Why am I interested in this matter? I am dismayed and stricken by the dismal poverty of so many of the world's peoples, and this in strange conjunction with the extraordinary wealth and power of others. How are we to make sense of this? and what can be done about it? Or, is the matter of wealth and poverty a matter of some importance? and can the theology of Karl Barth really shed light on the matter? These are significant questions, and we must address them. We may begin with the question: is the matter of poverty a significant issue?
The matter of poverty and wealth is of supreme importance to people who are hungry. Hungry people comprise a major portion of the world's population, and their misery demands relief. I have undertaken this study in the hope that it may enable persons and organizations to work more effectively for the relief of economic suffering. In my view, this is the most important reason for undertaking this study. In order to address this matter I have chosen to present a Barthian analysis of economic life, and that in relation to a specific circumstance of economic suffering--that of the Latin American peoples, and they in relation to the wealth and power of the western industrial nations, especially the United States. Why have I made these choices?
Karl Barth is considered by many to be the outstanding theologian of our century. He is a comprehensive theologian who grounds his theology in the biblical revelation, and his work takes account of the major figures and concepts of classical theology. Furthermore, his theology represents a new departure, not only with respect to his immediate liberal theological heritage, but even with respect to the entire theological tradition that preceded him. No other major theologian, for example, placed the doctrine of the Trinity in the prolegomena to dogmatics, or developed a doctrine of election prior to a doctrine of creation. These innovations are significant, and they have a bearing on the question of how nations should act politically in economic affairs. Therefore, when we consider the issue of economic suffering, and how this suffering may be resolved by political action, we are bringing to bear a theological approach that has the potential to place the matter of economic and political life squarely within a comprehensive and original theological vision.
Furthermore, I have chosen to present Barth's theology in relation to Latin America and its political and economic relations with the western industrial powers, primarily the United States. I make this choice since the economic situation in Latin America is desperate, and further, because the United States is directly involved in Latin American political and economic affairs and has been for over a century. I am a citizen of the United States, and I have lived in Central America and experienced its conditions first hand. Given the economic conditions in Latin America, and given the fact of direct and continuing United States' influence, a responsible course of action for citizens of the United States would be to investigate the effect of their own country's policies on Latin America's economic life.
The question of how the state should act in economic affairs is one of the fundamental social and economic questions of our time. At present, the world is divided into two warring camps. On the one hand there are those who claim that economic suffering can best be alleviated by actions in which the state or the party take control of economic life. On the other hand, the claim is made that the state may play a role in economic affairs, but that it must leave many significant economic decisions to the free operation of the market. Our fundamental question of how the state should act responsibly in economic affairs has a bearing on this issue that divides the world, and for this reason is worthy of our consideration.
Although the matter of economic life and theology has received some attention in recent years, it has not been a central issue for theological reflection. In my view this is a mistake, given the irreducibly incarnational character of Christian faith. Traditionally, theology has often allied itself with philosophy. The incarnational and historical aspect of the Christian faith would direct theology to ally itself with the social sciences with the aim of realizing the truth of the gospel in economic and social life. For this reason, we integrate our Barthian analysis of economic life with elements of a Marxist analysis of contemporary economic conditions in Latin America. In this way we build a bridge between theology and the actual world of poverty and conflict in which we live.
Finally, my thesis that economic life has its basis in social history has direct implications for the relief of economic suffering. We shall show that economic life can be improved only by changes in the balance of political power among various classes and nations as they relate to economic affairs. By contrast, strictly economic means of resolving economic problems do not call for changes in the political and institutional structures that undergird economic life, and therefore, given our thesis, cannot effect substantive improvements in economic conditions.
As a result of this study we shall reach several conclusions. First, we shall show that economic life has its basis in social history, where social history is understood to be events of encounter between persons, classes, and nations. That is our thesis. Given that thesis, we shall show that economic suffering is due to sin, where sin is understood as certain types of encounter between nations and classes. Specifically, we shall show that the poverty in Latin America is the consequence of two social historical forces, the political power of the United States and the major developed countries in alliance with class-related political forces within Latin America itself. These two national and class powers have dominated the majority of the Latin American peoples and robbed them of their livelihood. The social historical fact of dominance is the basis of the economic suffering. Finally, we shall conclude that Latin America's economic misery can be ameliorated only through social changes that strengthen the political power of Latin American countries over against the developed countries, and this in conjunction with changes in the balance of power within the Latin American countries themselves. These changes will enable weaker nations and classes to transform the institutional basis of economic life to their advantage. We may now summarize the structure of this dissertation by chapters.
Our objective in the first chapter is to present Barth's doctrine of the Trinity. This chapter will be the foundation for the following chapters. Barth investigates economic life in the context of creation, and appropriates creation to God the Father. He locates political life in the context of reconciliation, and appropriates reconciliation to God the Son. How the state should act responsibly in economic affairs is an aspect of how the state and economic life are related. The relationship between economic life and political life has its basis in the relation of creation and reconciliation, which in turn has its basis in how the Father and Son are related within the triune life. Therefore, we shall present Barth's doctrine of the Trinity in the first chapter. In subsequent chapters we shall show that the eternal generation of the Son by the Father implies that economic life as appropriated to God the Father has its basis in political life as appropriated to the Son. Further, the dynamic relations of the three modes related by two issues implies that history and social life exist within God, and therefore, ad extra, political life takes a social historical form with the result that economic life has its basis in social history. From this it follows that our thesis is derived by examining Barth's doctrine of the Trinity.
In our second chapter we shall present aspects of Barth's doctrine of creation. This doctrine is derived through an exegesis of the two creation accounts of Genesis one and two. Barth's exegesis establishes a relation between covenant and creation--the covenant is the internal basis of creation. By covenant, Barth means the biblical covenant, the old and new covenants which have their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The covenant is a social history among peoples and with God since God is social and historical within himself. An important part of economic life is the relationship of human beings to nature by which they use the earth's resources to provide food and shelter. Barth's doctrine of creation focuses on God and humanity's relation to nature, and one aspect of that relation is economic life. Barth's exegesis also establishes a relation between creation and covenant. Therefore, Barth's exegesis establishes two relationships--the relation of God and humanity to creation, of which economic life is one aspect, and secondly, the relationship of that relation to covenant. In other words, God and humanity's economic relation to nature is related by Barth to the covenant, and covenant is itself a social history of relations among people and with God. Therefore, by following Barth's exegesis of the two Genesis accounts, we will be able to relate economic life to the social history of the covenant. At that point we shall verify our thesis, that economic life has its basis in the social historical life of the covenant.
Our objective in the third chapter will be two-fold; we shall investigate the economic aspects of the fulfilled covenant as known in Jesus Christ the Reconciler, and we shall relate those results to the results of the previous chapter. One way in which the results of both chapters will be related is that the economic aspects of creation are the presupposition of the economic aspects of the covenant of reconciliation. One presupposition from chapter two will be that economic life has its inner basis in the social history of the covenant, so that economic blessedness and economic misery are reflective of how people do and do not keep covenant with one another and with God. We shall show that economic misery is the result of sin, sin being understood as broken social relations among peoples. Jesus Christ is the Reconciler, and reconciliation deals with sin through its abolition and the creation of a new life beyond the power of sin. Since economic life has its inner basis in covenant, the restoration of the covenant in reconciliation restores economic life to God's intended fullness. Furthermore, Barth understands sin Christologically. Sin is known only in light of covenant, in light of Jesus' reconciling actions which restore covenant. Therefore, by contrast, the reconciling actions which restore the covenant and economic life also reveal what sorts of actions lead to the deterioration of economic existence. As a result of the foregoing, we shall determine the economic aspects of reconciliation, distinguish and relate these results to the economic aspects of creation, discover what sorts of actions restore economic life, and by contrast, what sorts of actions lead to its impoverishment. All of these results will have their basis in the covenant as fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and will reveal how humanity both individually and as communities are called to act responsibly in economic affairs.
The task of chapter four will be to address directly the fundamental question of our study. In previous chapters we will have discerned how God and humanity as known in the covenant of Jesus Christ have acted responsibly and are called to act responsibly in economic affairs. Political life belongs to the Christological sphere; it belongs to the covenant. Therefore, our results relating covenant and economic life, or showing how God and humanity act responsibly in economic affairs as revealed in the covenant, apply to political life once we understand how Barth relates political life to the covenant. Barth uses a central image to relate covenant and political life and that is the image of two concentric circles with a common center. In the center is Jesus Christ, the inner circle is composed of the covenant community of the church, and the outer circle, more remotely related to Jesus Christ, is the community of the nations. Both church and state are distinct from Jesus Christ, and both suffer under the limitation of the present time between Jesus' first coming and his final eschatological appearing. Because of the limitation of the middle period, church and state are restricted in their ability to act responsibly in economic affairs. By grace, however, God enables both church and state to act responsibly, and this grace has its basis in Jesus Christ as its center. This responsible action, however, is known only in faith, and only fleetingly reflects the way in which God and humanity as known in the covenant of Jesus Christ acted responsibly in economic affairs. The state suffers an additional limitation; as the outer circle, it is twice removed from its center. Unlike the church, it does not self-consciously pattern itself upon the Word of God, nor does it nor should it claim the love of the Spirit as its unifying power. Rather, it is ruled by ideologies as expressed in law backed up by force. Though twice removed from its center, it is not totally unrelated to its center. Jesus Christ is the norm for both the church and the state, but he is the norm for each in a different way. For the church he is the direct norm; for the state, which does not and should not proclaim the gospel as its basis, he is a more remote norm, or even its secret norm. Since he is the norm for the state, our results on how God and humanity take responsibility for economic life as revealed in the covenant of Jesus Christ apply to the state. By virtue of the state's two-fold remoteness, they can be applied only in an indirect fashion. In this way we shall discern God's grace in political affairs, and how the state is called to act in economic matters subject to its limitations.
The purpose of our fifth chapter is to discern the relevance of our prior results to one aspect of contemporary history. Barth's theology is a theology of the Word of God. The Word of God always takes concrete form in history as the direction of God's grace and the norm of human action. Therefore, we shall consider one aspect of contemporary history in relation to our results. I have chosen to integrate the results of the first four chapters to a modified Marxist analysis of the relations between center and periphery during the period from the formation of monopolies in the late nineteenth century until the middle part of this century. We shall focus on the relations between the United States and Latin America, with Chile as a test case. I have chosen elements of a Marxist analysis because it locates economic life in the context of social history, and this makes it compatible with the major results of our study of Barth. We will conclude with some suggestions to the church as to how it may proceed with respect to economic affairs at the present moment.
A number of the issues raised by our study are of current theological interest. We shall participate in that discussion. In particular, we shall address the matter of Barth and socialism, whether or not, or to what degree, Barth's theology comes from and/or leads to a socialist commitment. Much of this debate deals with the evolution of Barth's thought in which it is argued that the Church Dogmatics represents the end result of an attempt theologically to ground a socialist commitment. But our study is a systematic and not a historical study, so we are not directly concerned with the evolution of Barth's thought. Nevertheless, our study is concerned with his mature thought, and the issue of whether the Church Dogmatics implies a commitment to socialism is directly relevant. We shall comment upon this discussion and present our own conclusions. Secondly, the themes we shall be treating are central themes of liberation theology. A number of liberation theologians make use of a Marxist analysis of the type we shall employ. We have chosen to allow two liberation theologians, Juan Luis Segundo and Jose Miguez Bonino, to contribute to our discussion. Of the two, Segundo presents the more systematic theological perspective, and his theology is a type which is rejected by Barth. We shall present aspects of Segundo's theology, and show how his theology leads to conclusions that differ from Barth's. This will enable us to see how theological differences lead to a different understanding of political and economic affairs.
Finally, we may ask, what is the relevance of this study? We may suggest four areas of relevance. First, we will provide a systematic way of relating theology to economic and political life. By means of this study it will be possible to see how differing theological positions lead to differing conceptions of socioeconomic reality. Secondly, our study of Barth's doctrines of creation and reconciliation will include the economic aspects of Barth's eschatology. Therefore, our study will unite the economic aspects of creation, reconciliation, and eschatology, as the work of the one God who acts as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In this way we will arrive at a comprehensive theological treatment of economic life in relation to political life. Furthermore, the primary norm of Barth's theology is Scripture, and our relating the economic aspects of creation and reconciliation will provide a way of relating diverse biblical elements such as the "economics of Jesus," the Exodus and Exile, and the creation sagas. Unless these diverse biblical elements are brought together, there can be no theological or biblically comprehensive view of economic life. Thirdly, we shall build bridges between theology and economics, and provide a way of doing economics from a theological perspective. This will give us a concrete example of how theology can be integrated with the social sciences and how they may mutually illumine each other. Finally, we shall call the church to take definite positions in our present moment in history, and to take a stand for the liberation of the economically impoverished.
The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
1986
An Egregious Theological Failure
Anglicanism and Justification - Introduction to Anglicanism
Barth - Reconciliation and Economic Life Chapter Three
Barth's Creation and Economic Life Chapter Two
Barth's Doctrine of the Trinity - Chapter One
Capitalism and Paganism--An Intimate Connection
Creation, Science, and the New World Order
Introduction to Anglican Theology - Anglicanism and the Prayer Book
Introduction to Anglicanism - Anglicanism and Justification
Introduction to the Theological Essays
John Jewel and the Roman Church
Karl Barth, the German Christians, and ECUSA - Introduction
Mathematics, Science, and the Love of God
One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Some Reflections On Evil and the Existence of God
The Historical Jesus and the Spirit
