Emil Brunner

A Reappraisal

Alister E. McGrath

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781119283416, 9780470670552
• eBook ISBN: 9781118569245
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

In Emil Brunner: A Reappraisal, renowned theologian Alister E. McGrath presents a comprehensive intellectual history of Emil Brunner, the highly influential Swiss theologian who was instrumental in shaping modern Protestant theology. 

• Explores Brunner's theological development and offers a critical engagement of his theology
• Examines the role that Brunner played in shaping the characteristics of dialectical theology
• Reveals the complex and shifting personal and professional relationship between Brunner and Barth
• Delves into the reasons for Brunner's contemporary neglect in theological scholarship
• Represents the only book-length study of Brunner's works and significance in the English language

1

Emil Brunner: The Origins of a Theological Mind, 1914–1924

Emil Brunner was born on 23 December 1889 in the Swiss city of Winterthur in the canton of Zurich.¹ His father, Heinrich Emil Brunner (1859–1926), was the youngest of six children, born into a “totally unbelieving family” in Oberrieden, on the south shore of Lake Zurich. This was a period of considerable political and social tension in German-speaking Switzerland, with liberals pressing for the secularization of the region's educational system, and conservatives wishing to retain its religious orientation. To his family's dismay, Brunner's father decided to attend a Protestant teacher training school (Evangelisches Lehrerseminar) in Unterstrass, also in the canton of Zurich, which had been founded in 1869.

The Evangelisches Lehrerseminar at which Brunner's father studied during the period 1874–8 had gained a considerable reputation as a centre of pedagogical and spiritual excellence under Heinrich Bachofner (1828–97). After qualifying as a teacher, Brunner secured a position at a Protestant school in Winterthur. Bachofner's strongly Pietist spirituality had a profound influence on Brunner's father, which was further consolidated by his marriage in 1884 to Sophie Hanna Müller (1862–1934). Sophie's father was the pastor of the village of Dussnang, in the canton of Thurgau, noted for his emphasis upon biblically grounded theology and preaching. The couple had four children: Hanna Sophie (“Hanny”, 1886–1961), Maria Lydia (1887–1968), Emil (1889–1966), and Frieda Emma (1896–1964). In April 1893, the Brunner family left Winterthur to settle in the city of Zurich, where Brunner's father had been appointed as primary teacher at the Gabler School House in the suburb of Enge.

Theological Studies at Zurich

Brunner's childhood was deeply shaped by his parent's strong religious beliefs, and their growing involvement in the Religious Socialist movement. Like many in Zurich at this time, Brunner was influenced by the pastor and writer Hermann Kutter (1863–1931), who developed a vision for a religious socialism that was both politically engaged and religiously grounded. Although Kutter argued that the essentially secularist Social Democrats were far more alert to social issues than their Christian counterparts, he insisted that a strongly Christian foundation was essential for any viable programme of social reform. Brunner was instructed and confirmed by Kutter at Christmas 1905.²

Yet although Brunner would remain concerned with political and social questions for the remainder of his life, it became clear to him at an early stage that the questions that really interested and concerned him were theological in character. In October 1908, aged 18, Brunner began to study theology at the University of Zurich.³ His key concern was to find an “intellectually satisfying statement of his faith”.⁴ Initially, he appears to have been particularly attracted by Zurich's church historian, Walter Köhler (1870–1947), a specialist in the thought of the Reformation. Brunner's prize-winning early essay “The Religious Ideals of Erasmus of Rotterdam” (1910) clearly reflects Köhler's influence.

Yet even at this early stage, Brunner had become aware of the importance of the English-speaking world. He attended the eighth conference of the World's Student Christian Federation held at Oxford from 15 to 19 July 1909,⁵ at which he met leading figures in the international ecumenical movement – including the American Methodist layman John R. Mott (1865–1955). Brunner's Oxford visit reveals two of his most distinctive characteristics, which mark him off from many other Swiss theologians of his age – an ability to speak English, and a willingness to engage directly with the ideas and movements of the English-speaking world, crossing the barriers of language, nationality, and denominations.

The most significant early intellectual influence on Brunner came from Leonhard Ragaz (1868–1945), a close associate of Kutter, who was Professor of Systematic and Practical Theology at the University of Zurich.⁶ Critiquing capitalism for its commodification of humanity, Ragaz developed a theological foundation for a reaffirmation of the value of individuals in the sight of God.⁷ He reinforced Brunner's growing conviction that personal and social transformation was impossible without a foundation in the living reality of God. Like Brunner, Ragaz recognized the importance of English-speaking theology. During his 1907 visit to Boston, Ragaz became familiar with the writings of Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918), especially his Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907). Rauschenbusch's influence is evident in Ragaz's subsequent writings, particularly his sermons of 1909.⁸ In 1914, Brunner dedicated his first significant published writing, Das Symbolische in der religiösen Erkenntnis (“The Symbolic Element in Religious Knowledge”), to Ragaz.

So what does Das Symbolische tell us about Brunner's ideas at this time? Theologically, it positions Brunner neatly within the mainstream of Swiss liberal Protestantism in the period before the Great War. Brunner regarded Immanuel Kant and F. D. E. Schleiermacher as having inaugurated the modern discussion of central theological themes, particularly in shifting the emphasis from allegedly “objective” conceptions of religious knowledge to subjective religious experience.⁹ Religious knowledge is essentially experiential; “revelation” is essentially enlightenment.

The work echoes the anti-metaphysical approach to theology – especially Christology – characteristic of the liberal Protestantism of A. B. Ritschl and Adolf von Harnack.¹⁰ Jesus of Nazareth was to be regarded as a religious exemplar or prototype, embodying the ethical values of the kingdom of God.¹¹ “Brunner regarded Jesus as a man possessing special religious knowledge, not a God-man who is identical with God as an object of religious knowledge.”¹² There is an obvious and significant soteriological deficit in Brunner's understanding of Jesus of Nazareth at this point, partly reflecting any sense of ontological distinction between humanity and Jesus.¹³ Jesus may clarify our understanding of God; he does not fundamentally alter our relationship with God. It is interesting to note that Brunner's Christology seems to rest on his epistemological presuppositions, suggesting that his understanding of the role of Jesus of Nazareth was shaped by an essentially philosophical framework.¹⁴

There are aspects of Das Symbolische which merit further discussion, perhaps most notably the manner in which its ideas – especially the ethical role of Jesus of Nazareth – echo the views of Ragaz, and the manner in which Brunner draws on Henri Bergson to develop his notion of “intuition”.¹⁵ Yet for our purposes, the importance of the work lies in its illumination of Brunner's theological starting point. In his “pre-dialectical” phase,¹⁶ Brunner is clearly deeply embedded within the liberal Protestant consensus, even if his ideas are tinged with the hues of the prevailing forms of liberal Protestantism at Zurich, rather than at Berlin. Yet this initial statement of Brunner's theological perspectives reveals someone who is at home with the ideas of Schleiermacher, Ritschl, and Harnack.¹⁷ At this point, Brunner does not stand out from his cultural and theological background.

Pastoral Ministry and Contacts in England

Brunner – like his Swiss colleagues Karl Barth (1886–1968) and Eduard Thurneysen (1888–1974) – had little sympathy at this stage for the purely academic study of theology, or any notion of theology as an ecclesially disengaged activity. All three saw theology as linked to ministry, and above all to preaching. Brunner was studying theology in order to begin public ministry within the Swiss Reformed church. His initial pastoral responsibilities were in Leutwil, a small town in the canton of Aargau, some fifteen kilometres from the neighbouring village of Safenwil.

Brunner moved to Leutwil in September 1912 to deputize for pastor August Müller, who had become seriously ill. Following Müller's death in office on 3 October, Brunner was ordained on 27 October 1912 at the Fraumünster in Zurich, and served as interim pastor (Vikar) at Leutwil until April 1913, when he returned to Zurich to complete his academic studies and examinations. Although Karl Barth was pastor of the nearby village of Safenwil throughout Brunner's Leutwil period, there are no indications of any direct contact between them. On 31 July 1913, Brunner was examined on his thesis “Das Symbolische in der religiösen Erkenntnis” – published the following year under the same title – and graduated summa cum laude.

Brunner's sermons of this period clearly echo the themes of the religious socialism articulated by Ragaz. In a sermon of 12 January 1913, Brunner played down any thought of Christianity offering hope in the face of death; its primary role was to transform the situation of the living.

When [Jesus] speaks about the “Kingdom of God”, he is talking first of all about this side of things. He does not want to bring a trusting hope for those who are dying, but speaks about a great future for the living. To put it briefly, the “Kingdom of God” will come on this earth – not as a rapture [Entrückung] into a better world through the entry door of death, but as a transfiguration [Umgestaltung] of our earthly life.¹⁸

Brunner was succeeded at Leutwil by Eduard Thurneysen (1888–1974), who served as pastor in the community from 1913 to 1920.¹⁹ Brunner's close friendship with Thurneysen began around this time. A significant correspondence developed, indicating a growing restlessness with some of the conventional theological wisdom of their age, catalysed to no small extent by the outbreak of the Great War in the late summer of 1914. It was during his period as pastor of L...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise for Emil Brunner: A Reappraisal
• Also by Alister E. McGrath from Wiley Blackwell
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Preface
• A Note on Translations and Editions
• 1: Emil Brunner: The Origins of a Theological Mind, 1914–1924
• Part I: The Making of a Dialectical Theologian
• Part II: Consolidation: Brunner's Vision for Post-War Theological Reconstruction
• Works by Emil Brunner Cited in This Study
• Index