Since his death in 1968, time and distance have provided scholars with space to understand Karl Barth in a larger intellectual and cultural context. He has emerged as one of the most important Christian theologians of the twentieth century—perhaps the most important—while his massive theological oeuvre and the changing shape of his thought have generated a host of alternative interpretations, notably in respect to his understanding of and relationship to Western philosophy. Contemporary theologians have sought to appropriate Barth in several directions, exploring his thought in connection with various postmodern positions.

Barth consistently held that philosophy should not hold sway over theology. In a 1960 essay written in honor of his brother, who was a philosopher, Barth allows that theology and philosophy can coexist in harmony, but he also spells out the important differences between these disciplines. The Christian theologian must be held captive...