Karl Barth on Natural Theology: A Critical Study

Natural theology has been playing in Abrahamic faiths the role of a link relating revelatory teachings to the current human knowledge. Notwithstanding, the validity and possibility of natural theology has never been agreed upon by the theologians of the faiths. Karl Bath, who is believed by many to be the most prominent and influential twentieth-century protestant, and even Christian, theologian, adamantly opposes any system of thought that hinges Christian beliefs on the findings of human intellect. Accordingly, he could be considered as an archetype of unmitigated opposition against natural theology in the present world. In this paper, we have tried to show that Barth’s critique of natural theology has to do with his analysis of the role natural theology played in the history of Christianity, on the one hand, and his peculiar reading of some Christian doctrines, on the other. However, seen from an epistemological point of view, Barth’s position against natural theology will pose serious challenges to revealed theology as well.