Sorry for the delay...as if anyone was waiting in anticipation for this next chapter to be summarized...the move back to Princeton has been my primary focus. The Barth journey continues!
This next section, labeled The Problem of Christology, begins with a succinct example of Barth's rich Christological emphasis that acts as the foundation to his theology. In the first paragraph he basically says that the Word of God (embodied in Jesus) focusing on the events surrounding Easter is that which the Scripture and the Church stands or falls. Later he states that statements about Christ must be the dominant theme of church dogmatics or it ceases to be so by definition. So he begins to dive into exactly what the particular mystery of the Word of God on earth is. It is here that the "mystery of revelation must be brought to its definite expression" in Jesus Christ. The crucial starting-point of Christ is the ultimate mystery of the expression of revelation by God. So how does this come about? The mystery is that God becomes human to redeem humanity through the virgin birth, which Barth argues is an important and necessary function of the story of Christ. The next few chapters deal with just this very thing. But before beginning that discussion....
Barth states first and foremost that "only one thing should be insisted upon here": that the assertion that "Jesus Christ is very God and very man" is actually an assumption necessary - that no proof will cause this to become true. It is a mystery - "Christology deals with the revelation of God as a mystery" (131), -- Key word there Mystery. The discussion on page 132 shouldn't be missed. Talk about faith - the discussion of Christ cannot be transmuted into something devoid of mystery...it is mystery at very essence. The discussion of Christ must be directed towards preserving its mystery.
(my comment) Makes you wonder if theological education tries to leave room for any mystery to take place. Are we explaining it away or building a foundation on a mystery we confess and have faith in? Faith seeking understanding....
With this foundation we venture on to the virgin birth.
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