Barth's "Göttingen Dogmatics" - §5: God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

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Karl Barth is often credited with starting a revival of the doctrine of the Trinity in systematic theology. This paragraph comprises his first robust account of that doctrine. Already Barth closely associates the doctrine of the Trinity with the possibility of revelation, as well as with specifying the subject of revelation—that is, identifying the God that Christians worship. As Barth puts it, “The content of revelation is God alone, wholly God, God himself” (Diktatsatz).

Karl Barth, The Göttingen Dogmatics: Instruction in the Christian Religion

This is part 6 of a multi-part series, and you can find the series index here.






I begin the audio recordings by reading Barth’s Diktatsatz, so I will begin reproducing that here as well. The bold is mine and indicates where I find emphasis:

The content of revelation is God alone, wholly God, God himself. But as God solely and wholly reveals himself, he makes himself know in the three persons of his one essence. He, the ternal Father, is the Lord at the beginning and end of the contradiction of our existence. He, the eternal Son of the Father, is the living Lord in the midst of our contradiction. He, the eternal Spirit of the Father and the Son, is and becomes our own Lord by proclaiming victory over the contradiction, addressing us as God’s children and servants, and giving us faith and obedience.


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