God as Subject and Never Object to Us

Abstract

Marc Pugliese offers a close reading of Śaṅkara’s interpretation of the Kena Upaniṣad and Barth’s reflections on the self-revelation of God (especially in CD 1/1), focusing on the issue of divine subjectivity. He notes that despite their differences, the two texts exhibit strong parallels in their descriptions of ultimate reality as utterly non-objectifiable. Most interesting is Pugliese’s suggestion that the Kena Upaniṣad can help respond to critics of Barth by further developing Barth’s theology of God’s subjectivity in ways that follow from what Barth himself says.