Prayer : the chief exercise of faith :the centrality of prayer in faith and obedience according to Karl Barth

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation is an attempt to show the centrality of prayer in the Christian life, in faithand obedience, according to Karl Barth.It is argued that the Christian life was not the focus of Barth's theology. The focus of histheology was the divine reality upon which the Christian life is grounded and in which itcontinually finds its own reality.In its correspondence to and dependence upon God's reality, God's Word and work, theChristian life is for Barth both faith and obedience, and at the core of faith and obedience, itis prayer. The inseparable relationship between faith, obedience and prayer, is not due tothe nature of humanity, the Christian, or even the Christian life as such, but due to the divinereality which gives faith, obedience and prayer its reality.Faith and obedience are inseparably related. Both are equally impossible for humanity by itsown power and capacity. It is only by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, by the power of theHoly Spirit, that humanity is justified and sanctified, thus turning its unbelief into faith and itsdisobedience into obedience.The unity of faith and obedience lies therein that they both form part of the one event of thereconciliation between God and humanity, which is accomplished in Jesus Christ. Both formpart of the Self-revelation of this reconciliation by God's Word. The reconciliation betweenGod and humanity, revealed by the Word of God, does not depend on faith and obedience,but is effective by its own power and grace, which brings both faith and obediencesimultaneously into existence.The reality of faith and obedience is a hidden reality, a divine reality, an eschatologicalreality, which is not externally observable, but can only be believed in faith, to which we aremoving in obedience, and which we ask for in prayer.Faith and prayer are also inseparably related. Faith, knowledge of God, is a personalresponse to God's gracious and miraculous Self-revelation, which humanity cannot produceby its own power. And therefore faith is to pray.Faith is always praying, for God's Self-revelation never becomes the possession of thebeliever, but is always given anew, thus necessitating faith to always ask anew for God'sSelf-revelation.Faith knows God in personal response, knows God in asking always anew, and thereforeknows God in prayer. Faith only has knowledge of God by talking to God, by responding inprayer to God's prior Self-revelation to faith, and by asking for God to reveal God-self alwaysanew.Obedience and prayer are also inseparably related. Both obedience and prayer exist in thefreedom of being bound unconditionally to God's action and Word. Freedom is not freedomfrom obligation, but the freedom of living within the claim of God's lordship over our lives.The freedom of obedience is the freedom to act in reaction to the action of God. It is theliberation from pondering over different possibilities, and the freedom for living in the one andonly path laid before it, the path of obedience. The freedom of prayer is the freedom to respond in correspondence to the Word of God, bywhich it is addressed and claimed. It is the liberation from all other voices and claims, andthe freedom to give witness to the one and only voice which claims its life in totality.Faith, prayer and obedience are inseparably related. All three form part of the one Christianlife lived under the Lord, who is Lord over the whole of creation, and who is Lord over thewhole of the Christian life. In faith, obedience and prayer the Christian lives incorrespondence to God's lordship over the world, the church and the individual.Becoming a Christian, means believing in Jesus Christ. It means continually looking awayfrom oneself, to Jesus Christ, who justifies humanity despite its unbelief, despite its pride,despite its faith in itself. Faith discards trust in itself, and trusts Jesus Christ completely.Being a Christian, means obeying Jesus Christ. It means to surrender to Jesus Christ as theonly Lord whom one is to obey in life and in death. As Jesus Christ sanctifies disobedientand slothful humanity, obedience is the freedom to rise and follow Jesus.Acting as a Christian, means praying with Jesus Christ. It means to ask in the Name ofJesus Christ, in the power and presence of Jesus Christ, in the grace and lordship of JesusChrist, that we will be able to believe what we cannot believe by our own power, and that wewill be able to obey what we cannot obey by our own power.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University