Theology and economy ‘after’ Barth

Abstract

The relation of theology and economy is a perennial theological challenge. Many contemporary theologians' understanding of this challenge is shaped by Karl Barth's attempt to resolve a set of tensions problematising this relation inherited from figures like Kant and Feuerbach. Barth ‘identified’ God's decision to be God with God's decision to be human. Further, he inconsistently but insistently claimed that the ‘form’ in which God reveals Godself in the person of Jesus somewhat isomorphically corresponds to God in Godself. The brilliance and yet instability of Barth's approach spawned a number of construals of theology and economy which depart from him in significant ways. I label these contemporary trajectories the post-Barthian temptation, Barthian revisionism, Barthian Balthasarianism, and Barthian catholicism and critically evaluate them, suggesting that Barthian catholicism is the most promising.