Cross Theology

The Classical Theologia Crucis and Karl Barth's Modern Theology of the Cross

Rosalene Bradbury

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781608994793
  9781498256346
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630876173
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

What is the theologia crucis--the theology of the cross--and what are its radical claims? Which theologians stood within this subversive tradition, and is Karl Barth amongst them? In this volume New Zealand theologian Rosalene Bradbury throws light on these--surprisingly contentious--questions. She argues convincingly that tethered to the tradition that gave rise to it, the term theologia crucis references a theological system centered around notions of false and true glory, and an ancient conviction that from the cross of Jesus Christ comes a revelatory and a saving Word. The apostle Paul, Athanasius, a school of medieval mystics, and the Reformer Martin Luther, are all shown to be significant classical representatives of these ideas. Bradbury then argues that seminal twentieth-century theologian Karl Barth exhibits many of the classical crucicentric system's defining characteristics, so that he himself might fairly be deemed a modern theologian of the cross. Until now Barth's pivotal role in this long, thin, crucicentric tradition has been unsung. This book thus sheds important new light on Barth's theology.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part 1: Identifying the Classical Theologia Crucis, its Dogmatic Shape, Theological Content, and the Marks Characterizing its Theologians
• Chapter 1: Recent Conceptions of the Theology of the Cross: Reviewing the Secondary Literature
• Chapter 2: The Classical Epistemology of the Cross
• Chapter 3: The Classical Soteriology of the Cross
• Chapter 4: Identifying the Classical Theologia Crucis, its Dogmatic Shape, Theological Content, and the Marks Characterizing its Theologians
• Excursus: The Systematic Foundation to the Heidelberg Disputation
• Part 2: Karl Barth’s Modern Theology of the Cross
• Chapter 5: From Luther to Barth
• Chapter 6: Recent Conceptions of the Theology of the Cross in Karl Barth: Reviewing the Secondary Literature
• Chapter 7: Karl Barth’s Modern Epistemology of the Cross
• Chapter 8: Karl Barth’s Modern Soteriology of the Cross
• Chapter 9: In Final Conclusion
• Bibliography