What does it really mean, to know God? What are the grounds for knowing God, what feeds that knowledge, and what is really known? In his search for answers to these questions, in two panels the author paints for us a clear picture of what Calvin and Barth had to say about knowing God: Calvin against the background of pre-modern culture, Barth in response to a post-Kantian culture inclined to agnosticism. Between them, like a hinge between the two panels, we find the philosophy of Kant. The two epochal theological figures are placed next to each other, but without this being at the expense of the power of either. The study does not stop with detached historical analysis, but nourishes the author’s own reflection toward a systematic design.
Cornelis van der Kooi, Ph.D. (1985) in Theology, Free University, Amsterdam, is Associated Professor in Systematic Theology at the Free University, Amsterdam. He has published several articles and books on Reformed Theology, including
Anfängliche Theologie. Der Denkweg des jungen Karl Barth (München, 1987).
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
1. Introduction
PART I. JOHN CALVIN
2. Ways of Knowing
3. God: Judge and Father
4. The Supper and Knowledge of God
THE HINGE 5. The Turn to the Subject in Kant’s Philosophy
PART II. KARL BARTH
6. The Way of Knowing God
7. The Doctrine of God
8. New Space for Human Action: Barth’s View of the Sacrament
EVALUATION 9. Profit and Loss
Bibliography
Index of Names
Index of Terms
All those interested in intellectual history, Reformed Theology, historical theology, systematic theology, pneumatology, sacramentology, Calvin and Barth.