Theologie des Heiligen Geistes? Erwägungen zu Karl Barths Schleiermacher-Interpretation

The article traces the development of Karl Barth’s reception of Friedrich Schleiermacher. It focuses on the pneumatology of Barth’s prolegomena and on the Schleiermacher essay in Barth’s book on Protestant Theology in the 19th Century . This essay, originally written in 1929/30, offers the first evidence of Barth’s idea of a »Theology of the Third Article«, which he brings into play as conceptual frame for a fair assessment of Schleiermacher. Thus, Barth abandons his early one-sided negative assessment of Schleiermacher before he begins to work on the Church Dogmatics. Our article then discusses Barth’s partial misunderstanding of central concepts of Schleiermacher’s thought. It argues that it is simplistic and misleading to say Barth favours a theology »from above« as opposed to Schleiermacher’s theology »from below«. The conclusion offers four theses as basis for further discussion.