This article was written by Fr. Daniel London for the December 2019 Chronicle newsletter for Christ Church Eureka, on the Feast Day of Karl Barth (Dec 10).
Last year, during the season of Advent, we were exploring the mystery of angels during our Tuesday Soup Suppers. As I was reviewing my notes from last year’s class, I came across several quotes about angels from the theologian Karl Barth (1886 – 1968), who is the subject of this year’s Soup Supper program. Barth (whose name is pronounced “Bart” not “Barth”) is one of the few modern theologians who refused to dismiss the subject of angels as medieval superstition or New Age fluff. Because so many of Barth’s contemporaries (such as Rudolf Bultmann) relegated angels to the realm of pre-scientific myth, one Anglo-Catholic theologian Eric Mascall humorously wrote, “Hark! The Herald Angels sing: Bultmann shot us on the wing.”[1]
Barth, who could not deny the preponderance of angels in the Holy Scriptures, explored their mystery for two hundred pages in a section of his Church Dogmatics (Vol III.3) titled “The Kingdom of Heaven, the Ambassadors of God, and their Opponents.” Barth argued that angels were not personal and independent spirits, but rather spiritual forces commissioned by God for particular purposes: the delivery of messages to humanity (remember, “angel” means “messenger”) and the protection of humanity from oppositional and chaotic forces. For Barth, an angel has no identity apart from its function.[2] An angel is an angel only insofar as it fulfills the divine purpose for which it is sent. When an angel veers from its intended path and purpose, it is no longer an angel. Some may call it a fallen angel, but it actually no longer deserves the title of “angel” at all because it is no longer functioning as a true “messenger” of God. Instead, it becomes what Barth called an oppositional or chaotic force. The author of the Epistle to the Ephesians called it a “spiritual force of evil” when he wrote, “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
I personally find Barth’s exploration of the mystery of angels helpful as it invites me to continue making the important distinction between people and their behaviors. According to Scripture (and Karl Barth), we all live our lives in the midst of angelic and oppositional forces that seek to influence our behaviors for good or for ill. Our struggle is not against one another, but against the forces and behaviors that remain in opposition to God and God’s love. As I have said many times before, “All are welcome at Christ Church, but not all behaviors are welcome.” Although we must hold ourselves and others responsible for our behaviors, we must not diminish each other’s humanity in the process. We are all made in God’s image and thus worthy of dignity and respect. So if someone is acting rude and obnoxious, we ought to refrain from calling that person a “jerk.” Rather, we can gently point out that the person’s behavior is not conducive to the health of the community and we can also remind that person of our “Covenant for Safe Community” which I have included in this month’s Chronicle. In this way, we can encourage each other to live according to “the better angels of our nature.”
Finally, Barth argues that the most effective way to experience the benefits and loving embrace of God’s holy angels is not by seeking out angels themselves, but by doing what we at Christ Church do best: glorifying God in the beauty of his holiness, because “where God is…the angels are also present.”[3] It is during the Advent and Christmas season that I especially sense the presence of benevolent angels among us, protecting us from danger, and guiding us deeper into the Heart of God.
[1] Eric Mascall, Pi in the High (London: Faith, 1959), 49.
[2] Although angels had no identity apart from their function, they apparently still had musical taste since, according to Barth, God listens to Bach and the angels listen to Mozart.
[3] Although I personally love hearing about people’s experiences of angels, Barth warns against this when he says, “It is best not to speak of any experience of angels at all. For the point at issue in the Bible is always an experience of God and of Jesus Christ, and not an independent experience of angels.” Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics Vol 3.3, Sections 50 – 51: The Doctrine of Creation, Study Edition 18 (London: T & T Clark, 2010), 191.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 