Volume 20, 2000
Gerald P. McKenny
Pages 205-224
Heterogeneity and Ethical Deliberation
Casuistry, Narrative, and Event in the Ethics of Karl Barth
How did Karl Barth understand ethical deliberation and what importance does his conception have for Christian ethics? These questions have been hotly contested. Some scholars find in Barth an occasionalism and/or intuitionism that leaves no room for ethical deliberation and has no relevance for Christian ethics. Other scholars find in him versions of casuistry or narrative ethics that have much relevance for Christian ethics. I argue that for Barth ethical deliberation involves an irreducible heterogeneity between the weighing of reasons or values that count for or against a possible course of action, on the one hand, and the act of testing these possible courses of action in encounter with the decision of God concerning them, on the other hand. I then show how casuistry and narrative play a necessary role in ethical deliberation but do not overcome its heterogeneity. Finally, I contrast Barth with superficially similar models of ethical deliberation and point out the theological rationale for his conception.