Jesus, History, and Revelation: Karl Barth and N. T. Wright in Dialogue

by Mitchell D. Mallary

Overview

There is a long-standing assumption that the theological visions of Karl Barth and N. T. Wright are fundamentally at odds with one another, with the thinkers purportedly representing two vastly different schools of thought within the Christian tradition. Jesus, History, and Revelation intervenes in these debates, challenging the prevailing paradigm in which Barth is hailed as the forerunner of "apocalyptic theology" and Wright is the standard-bearer of a "salvation-historical" scheme.

Mitchell Mallary demonstrates how Barth and Wright share remarkable affinities with one another in relation to Jesus as the objective historical reality of revelation, the subjective conditions for the possibility of human reception of revelation, and the task of the historian. Jesus, History, and Revelation proposes that the lived history of Jesus and the reality of divine revelation cannot be neatly categorized into "apocalyptic" or "salvation-historical" schemes. Indeed, whereas those debates often center on Pauline interpretation, Mallary suggests that these issues first require to be addressed in relation to the historical Jesus, the Gospels, and Christology proper.

Jesus, History, and Revelation is the first book to bring the work of Karl Barth into dialogue with N. T. Wright. Importantly, Mallary clarifies the relationship between the creaturely form of Jesus's humanity and the content of divine revelation, explains the necessary conditions whereby humans can discern this revelation, and unpacks the implications of both for a proper understanding of the relevance and limits of historical study for Christian theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798889834328
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	07/22/2025
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Mitchell D. Mallary is the Academic Administrator for Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford (SCIO). He is the coeditor of two forthcoming books, Eschatology and Historyand Philosophical Engagements with N. T. Wright. His scholarly interests include Christology, theological epistemology, and the question of natural theology.

Table of Contents

Part I: Karl Barth on Jesus, History, and Revelation

1. Before Election: Hypostatic Unity-in-Distinction

2. After Election: Paradoxical Identification

Part II: N. T. Wright on Jesus, History, and Revelation

3. The Historical Jesus: Critical Realism and the Limits of History

4. Revelation in Retrospect: The Resurrection and the Epistemology of Love

Part III: The Heart of the Debate

5. Jesus, the Spirit, and the Historian: Analyzing the Impasse Between Barth and Wright