Creation

Abstract

Barth’s doctrine of creation is stated comprehensively in the four books and over two thousand pages of the third volume of Church Dogmatics, encompassing the relationship between creation and covenant (CD III/1), theological anthropology (CD III/2), themes in the relationship of creator to creature—providence, the lordship of God, nothingness, and the angels—(CD III/3), and the ethical topics which Barth treats under the doctrine of creation (CD III/4). This chapter reviews the breadth of his doctrine of creation, emphasizing in particular the Christocentric focus that Barth maintains, and notes key criticisms that have been raised in relation to the anthropocentric structure of his doctrine of creation, his identification of sexual differentiation as the image of God, and his account of evil as nothingness.