Providence and Personalism

Karl Barth of fered Church Dogmatics III.3 as a radical correction of Reformed Orthodoxys doctrine of providence. This book assesses this claim and argues that III.3 represents a personalist revision of providence which can only be understood through Barths ad hoc use of philosophical resources. Barths doctrine of providence remains theology proper, and not philosophy, but cannot be understood without philosophy. Setting Barth in conversation with three philosophical theologians, Vincent Brmmer, John Macmurray and Austin Farrer, this book shows Barths distance from pre-modern understandings of providence. The conversations equip the reader to discern the continuities and discontinuities between III.3 and twentieth-century personal, relational philosophy, thereby making sense of many of Barths counterintuitive claims. Through contrast with the philosophical theologians, Barths Christocentric and Trinitarian articulation gains clarity and significance. Building on these philosophical comparisons, this book assesses Barths contributions to debates concerning history as determined by divine action, human freedom under providence and the problem of evil.