Mein Kollege Prof. Dr. Thomas K. Johnson hat vor einigen Jahren den Text „Dialogue With Kierkegaard in Protestant Theology: Donald Bloesch, Francis Schaeffer, and Helmut Thielicke“ verfasst.
Twentieth century Protestant theology effectively began in 1919 with the publication of Karl Barth’s great Roman’s Commentary. Here Barth effectively declared the otherness of God and the crisis of modern optimistic religion and culture, and Barth did this under the influence of Søren Kierkegaard. Kierekegaardian phrases like “the infinite qualitative difference between time and eternity” echo throughout Barth’s early works, and these themes are an important part of what makes twentieth century theology so different from nineteenth century theology. In his later works Barth did not make so many references to the idiosyncratic Dane, but dialogue with Kierkegaard had begun and was to become a fascinating and many-sided element in the writings of many Protestant theologians after Barth. And this dialogue with Kierkegaard can serve as a kind of red thread that can lead us into some of the distinctive and interesting themes of the theology of the last century. Three theologians of the generation after Barth who carried on extensive dialogues with Kierkegaard were Donald Bloesch, Francis Schaeffer, and Helmut Thielicke. The three represent a variety of intellectual, confessional, and national backgrounds, yet the three have some important things in common. All three saw themselves as followers of the Protestant Reformation, and all three, like Barth, saw a very close connection between theology and Christian preaching. And all three thought the dialogue with Kierkegaard was significant. But there the similarity ends. Each theologian has a distinctive interpretation of and response to our Danish friend.
Der Text kann hier gratis heruntergeladen werden: mbstexte175.pdf.