Karl Barth’s Theological Exegesis of Romans 9–11 in the Light of Jewish–Christian Understanding

Abstract

This article focuses on Karl Barth’s exegesis of Rom. 9–11 in Church Dogmatics II/2. After locating Barth’s contribution both within its original context and within Barthian scholarship, the article moves to a reading of Barth’s exegesis. The importance of Barth’s theological exegesis is his insistence that we engage with the subject matter of Paul’s text. In this cause I expose Barth’s exegesis of Rom. 9–11 to two questions inspired by the quest for improved Jewish–Christian understanding. First, what kind of contribution to Jewish–Christian understanding might Barth’s exegesis make? Second, what theological, hermeneutical and ethical issues does Barth’s example provoke us to think about in relation to reading Rom. 9–11? Barth’s exegetical legacy, I conclude, contains both promise and risk, a feature that demonstrates faithfulness to the destabilizing ways of Rom. 9–11.