The Doctrinal Role of Scriptural Exegesis in Karl Barth’s New Testament Lectures 1921–1925

This paper explores the role of biblical exegesis in doctrinal theology. It does so through the lens of Karl Barth’s lectures on New Testament texts given at the University of Göttingen between 1921 and 1925. Contemporary critiques of the 1919 and 1921 editions of his commentary on Romans, particularly his exchange of open letters with Adolf von Harnack in 1923, contributed to several significant developments in Barth’s understanding and practice of biblical exegesis. In this short period, Barth honed his skills in close reading of New Testament texts, achieving a sharper sense of the relation between what New Testament writers said and what their texts now say than he had in Romans.