Zur Aktualität des reformierten Freiheitsverständnisses

Abstract

Reformed Protestantism emphasizes the strong connection between faith and action. The background for this is the concept of unio cum Christo, interpreted in a specific manner. The believer finds himself included in the community of will with Christ and en couraged to do his will autonomously. Thus divine and human activity, “to be determined” and “self-determining”, are closely related. In his Church Dogmatics, Karl Barth decodes this interrelation as a dogmatic matter to deal with the contradictory experience of human freedom. In particular, his link between the doctrine of election and ethics can be reconstructed as an attempt to keep the interpenetration of ought and dare, authority and freedom present. As a result, Barth's theology can be understood as an example of dealing with the dialectic that constitutes the modern concept of freedom.