Beyond Immanence: The Theological Vision of Kierkegaard and Barth by Alan J.Torrance and Andrew B.Torrance (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2023), xiv + 393 pp.
Year: 2024
Type: book-review
Abstract: It is an indisputable fact that the nineteenth-century philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard had a significant influence on the twentieth-century pastor and theologian Karl Barth.Anyone who opens the second edition of Barth's Römerbrief will find not only the implicit influence of Kierkegaard present in concepts such as the moment, infinite qualitative difference, paradox, and divine incognito; she will find several explicit references to Kierkegaard as well (see, for example, the comments on Romans 3:22 or 8:3 or 12:3-5).The influence of Kierkegaard upon Barth is hard to miss, and it has often been noted.However, it has not been the subject of in-depth research, especially not in Anglophone scholarship.There have been monographs on the Kierkegaard-Barth relationship in French, German, Italian, Korean, and Japanese.Alan Torrance's and Andrew Torrance's Beyond Immanence is the first book-length treatment of the relationship between these two highly influential figures in English.At least three elements are a necessary part of such a genealogical project: (1) patient documentation of the successor's explicit textual citations of his or her predecessor; (2) notation of where the predecessor's conceptual influence is not explicitly indicated by the successor but is nonetheless plainly evident; (3) adjudication of how faithful the successor is to the predecessor in the use of his or her texts and concepts.These scholarly mandates are ably fulfilled by Alan Torrance and Andrew Torrance.However, like Lee Barrett's exemplary tome on Augustine and Kierkegaard, Beyond Immanence is not content with simply documenting the influence of one figure upon another.It also seeks to draw both subjects into a constructive theological project, showing how a particular trajectory established in Kierkegaard and continued by Barth remains relevant within contemporary theological discourse.Chapter 5 deals with the textual and historical issues of Kierkegaard's influence upon Barth.These are thorny matters.Though Barth points to Kierkegaard's Practice in Christianity as the source of his thoughts and words on several occasions, it remains the case that Barth was not interested in rigorous citation of his influences in his Romans commentary (as Beverly Roberts Gaventa has put it, Barth either fails or refuses to "show his homework" 1 ).Thus, any documentation of Kierkegaard's influence cannot be content with explicit citations.Furthermore, the explicit citations of Kierkegaard are 1 See Beverly Roberts Gaventa, "Reading Romans on the Brink: The Continuing Challenge of Barth's Römerbrief," in Karl Barth's Epistle to the Romans: Retrospect and Prospect, edited by Christophe Chalamet, Andreas Dettwiler, and Sarah Stewart-Kroeker (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022), 11; this is a paraphrase of Gaventa's point.
Source: Modern Theology
DOI: 10.1111/moth.12959
Author: Thomas J. Millay
Institution: St. Olaf College
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4402073041