Karl Barth and Charlotte von Kirschbaum

@article{Tietz2017KarlBA,
  title={Karl Barth and Charlotte von Kirschbaum},
  author={Christiane Tietz},
  journal={Theology Today},
  year={2017},
  volume={74},
  pages={111 - 86}
}
In 2008, the letters between Charlotte von Kirschbaum and Karl Barth from 1925–1935 were published in German. They reveal the love between them, but also the conflicts between Barth, von Kirschbaum, and Barth’s wife Nelly Barth and how much all three suffered from this constellation. The paper first discusses if and how we are allowed to read these letters and then describes their love relation as well as the conflicts and the importance this experience had for Barth’s theology. 
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4 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

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Abstract This paper extends the scope of earlier studies of Karl Barth's relationship with Charlotte von Kirschbaum by exploring his marriage to Nelly Barth and the deterioration in their…
The personal is the (academic) political: Why care about the love lives of theologians?
Abstract What might be learned, for theology, from recent interest in the complex love triangle of Nelly Barth, Charlotte von Kirschbaum and Karl Barth? I explore some aspects of how the story has…
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References

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It might be interesting to note that his brother Heiner accuses Barth of ''Naturalism'' (cf. ibid., 271) and that Barth in no letter about their situation argues with christological figures
    Alles kreist nun immer wieder um die zwei Punkte: der eine die Heiligkeit des Gebots, der andere, daß du und ich (ich weiß nicht auf welcher Ebene) zusammen sind
      The triangle is his attempt 201. Ibid., 72: ''der Schatten von Schuld und Leid und Verzicht, unter dem du und ich stehen, ist da und wird da sein
      • aber er ist nicht das Einzige, was da ist, sondern es gibt ein freilich schwer zu umschreibendes gewisses Recht, das wir aufeinander haben, und dieses Rechtes du¨rfen und werden wir uns freuen
      ] nicht schaden wollen, die ich nicht kompromittieren wollen darf
        die Ordnung in der Unordnung
          He explains, that in his view, both, Nelly and Charlotte, fell in love with him also because of his theology and faith
            Was hilft die scharfsinnigste Theologie, wenn sie im eigenen Hause Schiffbruch leidet
              212 Charlotte is convinced that there is order and command of God in both relationships: not only that Karl's and Nelly's relationship is marriage, but also hers is ''marriage
                The way I am, I never could and still cannot deny either the reality of my marriage or the reality of my love. It is true that I am married, that I am a father and a grandfather
                • Barth does not escape this tension and decides to stick to both realities of his life
                50: ''was da ungewollt aus der ra¨tselhaft-schuldvollen Tiefe des Menschlichen u¨ber uns gekommen ist
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