In Section 1 of Barth, he speaks of science, and dogmatics, as limited in their very nature. Our theories in dogmatics will only be as close to the truth as our reason allows… and our reason has failed us before. He states, “Christian dogmatics will always be a thinking, an investigation and an exposition which are relative and liable to error.” Thus, the theories of dogmatics will only ever be our limited human attempt to understand something that is beyond our grasp.
Taking this view of dogmatics, any given theology, though it may seem appealing over another, will never fully match up to the truth in its entirety. Why then is it that we have so many dogmatic theological arguments today as if one theory is right while the other is completely wrong? Can we have a theory that is better, less limited and closer to the truth than another? How will we know?
If we take the approach that Barth is taking concerning dogmatics, would we ever be able to accept one theology as greater than another? (Does Barth do this?) Or would we forever be left in a realm of possibilities, not ever able to accept a theory, but relying only on faith alone to get us through. Let’s just throw reason out the window. It’s faulty anyways. No, I believe Barth would hold that we need dogmatics, but he is mainly just giving us a caution against relying on our own man-made theories as truth. But still the question remains, how do I know which one is the closest to the truth??
I commented on Cody Martin's "Barth confuses me so I'll talk about science"
Callie, you have a good question, and I certainly can't give you a direct answer. Simply because, I am fallen. But, What I would do in situations, especially the area of Dogmatics, is use Scripture. Read the Word, search, examine, compare, contrast. Does this theory seem consistent with Scripture? Does this go against Christ commands? Does the hold biblically?
ReplyDeleteI believe that God Words is Truth and more importantly the He is the ultimate truth. So for me, whenever I compare something against the ultimate truth, that's how I know if it's closest to truth.