If the subject of theology sounds stuffy and intellectual, the word dogma can sound repulsive to the modern (and post-modern) person. For many people, dogma is understood as a rigid set of unchanging beliefs, established millennia ago, and enforced with all of the grace and compassion of an anvil.
For Barth, theologies, dogmas, and scripture have meaning as they intersect with contemporary lives. To speak of the things of God can only truly be done while holding beliefs in one hand and the life lived in the other.
This is not only true for individuals, but for the area of Barth’s concern and critique--the Church. Barth challenges the Church to consider how its traditions stand up to “what Christian utterance can and should say to-day.” [016]
In making this statement, Barth is not advocating that all tradition and historic beliefs should be abandoned. Not by any means. However, the question before the Church is how does our rich heritage connect with the modern world? How does our dogma impact the life lived?
It is in asking these types of questions that our dogmas are no longer used as barriers to hide behind or standards for allegiance. Rather, dogma, more fully understood, can be a dynamic way of thinking that leads the Church to explore how it might give voice to the power of Christ in the world today.
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