ABSTRACT
Helmut Thielicke’s (1908-86) theology developed in the traumatic intellectual and social context of twentieth-century Germany. Upon completion of his theological training, Thielicke taught theology and served as a pastor at Württemberg and subsequently at Heidelberg. He was banned from teaching by the National Socialists after his critique of their underlying ideology became known. After the war, Thielicke joined the faculty at Tübingen and later at Hamburg where he completed his most significant theological work. Both a theologian and a churchman, he sought to engage a third way beyond the polarities of conservatism and liberalism. He articulated, in his mature systematic theology, an Evangelical Faith for a modern context characterized by a crisis of faith in theology.1 The title he had originally conceived for this work, Being in Truth, illuminates his central thesis that theology is reflection upon the ontic relation between God and humanity. In this sense, theology is necessarily, but not irreducibly, anthropological. Theology reflects humanity’s response to the Word and the gospel. The theologian does not articulate “objective” knowledge of the relation between God and humanity so much as explore the implications of being constituted by that relation. True knowledge of God requires, then, for Thielicke, that the knower be in the truth. In developing this theme and in suggesting a way beyond the crisis of the modern world, Thielicke found a considerable dialogue partner in Kierkegaard. This article is structured along the lines of primary themes which Thielicke formulated in his most condensed, sustained and recent discussion of Kierkegaard in Modern Faith and Thought.2 Related themes and points of contact from his earlier three-volume Evangelical Faith will be considered along the way. The article will conclude with a summary of Thielicke’s assessment of Kierkegaard’s contribution to modern theology.
