History and time in the dialectical theology of Karl Barth

Reflection on history occupies an important place in the theology of Karl Barth (1886- 1968). In the early period of his work, he positively viewed history as a space for the transmission of the Christian faith. However, in the future, after the departure from liberal theology and in the course of the development of the dialectical «theology of crisis», the attitude towards history becomes more negative: no achievements of human history can justify a person before God, therefore its true meaning can only be known in the christological light of Revelation, which completes the old aeon and reveals the «real history». The eternal Word of God is actualized in the present through the historical form of Scripture and the modern form of preaching. The eternal God humiliates Himself so that man can know Him in time, and it is in time that He elevates human nature and human history to a new ontological level. Therefore, the priority in dialectical theology is given to the biblical history of salvation, the universal history being only its external framework.