Emil Brunner

[dms1972]

So I have a couple of books by Emil Brunner, but have not studied his thought in any great depth.

He was a friend of Karl Barth but they disagreed over natural theology.

Alister McGrath did a biography of him a few years ago.

Here's picture of Brunner (on the left) and Barth.

Any thoughts on the man and his writings.

 

[FireDragon76]

Barth's sticking point was on Natural Theology indeed, and it seemed to come from a particularly sharp take on the Reformed religion, as far as Neo-Orthodox Protestant theologians go.

Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran, was also critical of natural theology, especially of the Liberal Protestant kind, but his more Lutheran-shaped Christology leaves more ambiguity, with Lutheranism's slightly more cosmic or mystical penumbra or shadow compared to some other strands of Protestantism. For Bonhoeffer, revelation is thoroughly dialectical and relational, involving our relationship to the world as much as it does to theological propositions or dogmas.

From what little I read about Brunner, it seems like the disagreement with Barth was similar. Barth focuses on divine transcendence almost exclusively, likely owing to his sharp take on the Reformed tradition, the idea that the "finite is not capable of the infinite" something that's very Zwinglian.

 

[Pioneer3mm]

"The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning."
- Emil Brunner
---
My favorite quote.