AN EXAMINATION OF KARL BARTH’S CRITIQUE OF NATURAL THEOLOGY: THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL SHIFT POST-SALVATION

This thesis reexamines Karl Barth’s rejection of natural theology, specifically if his Christocentric framework allows for a limited, post-salvific engagement with natural revelation. While Barth is adamant in his denial of the source of knowledge of God being found solely through reason, logic, or nature, this thesis argues that Barth does not reject the possibility of natural revelation but rejects its accessibility. But, due to the effects of salvation on not just the soul but the whole of one’s being, the mind is also renewed, allowing for the noetic effects of sin to be overcome. Drawing from Church Dogmatics I/1, The Epistle to the Romans, No!, and Evangelical Theology: An Introduction, this study aims to define Barth’s rejection within his work and compare it to a direct critic in Emil Brunner. This thesis proposes that Barth opens the door for a post-salvific epistemological shift, entirely dependent on God’s self-revelation. In this framework, theology is not an autonomous pursuit of divine knowledge but a participation in the miraculous self-disclosure of God Almighty.