A Theology of the Third Article

Toward the end of his career, Karl Barth made the provocative statement that perhaps what Schleiermacher was up to was a theology of the third article and that he anticipated in the future that a true third-article theology would appear. Many interpreters, of course, took that to indicate not only a change in Barths perception of Schleiermacher but also as a self-referential critique. The author investigates this claim, contesting the standard interpretations, and argues for a Barthian pneumatol