ABSTRACT
During the last quarter of the twentieth century, some significant attempts were made to bring resolution, more commonly known as the filioque controversy. Early in the fifth century AD, certain Spanish churches began including the word 'filioque' in the third article of the Latin text of the Nicno-Constantinopolitan Creed. Despite the affirmation given to the filioque by the third and fourth Councils of Toledo, the addition itself remained relatively uncontroversial for nearly three centuries. Thomas Aquinas also articulated a defense of the filioque in the article on the Holy Spirit in his magnificent Summa Theologica. Chronologically, of course, Karl Barth falls between the Old Catholic-Orthodox conversations of the late nineteenth century, but before the pinnacle of the ecumenical discussions on the filioque convened by the WCC in the mid-1970s. Those who have undertaken to assess Barth's doctrine of the filioque to date have tended to do following three basic approaches: Exegetical-theological analysis; comparative analysis; and intrasystemic analysis.
