Dialectical theology rejected liberal Protestantism by insisting on humanity’s incompatibility with God

Evidence

In 1923 he was appointed to a personal professorial chair in Marburg, still a stronghold of neo-Kantianism, although this was beginning to go into decline. He became a friend of Rudolf Bultmann, Professor of New Testament Studies, who, along with Karl Barth and Friedrich Gogarten, was one of the principal representatives of dialectical theology'. The defenders of this position placed a theology of the Word of God in opposition to the Man-God’ of liberal neo-Protestant theology, and emphasized, with reference to Kierkegaard in particular, that Christian faith was a risk, that humanity and God were incompatibly opposed, and that the separation between religion and science, faith and theology could not last indefinitely if there was to be any claim to theological authenticity. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 400

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘dialectical theology’ as the Kierkegaardian position distinguishing Bultmann, Barth, and Gogarten from liberal neo-Protestantism.
• XREF: Connects to the intellectual milieu out of which Heidegger’s existentialism and later Frankfurt School critique drew, and to Kierkegaard’s influence on existential thought. — connects to: Dialectical theology held faith as risk with humanity and God incompatibly opposed — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 400; Protestantism’s rejection of finite mediation makes the infinite abstract and unreachable — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 802; Dialectical necessity inscribes lack into divine potentiality, producing a consuming God. — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 688

Broader Connections

• Protestantism’s rejection of finite mediation makes the infinite abstract and unreachable #responds-to (0.80) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 802