Karl Barth’s theology of the Trinity in conversation with Christian theology of religions

Abstract

This article attempts to discuss Karl Barth’s Trinitarian theology with two Christian theologians of religions, John Hick and Raimundo Panikkar. To acknowledge the presence of other religions, Hick conceived of The Real, a universal God worshiped by all people of all religions. About this concept, Hick considers the Trinity to be nothing more than a penultimate symbol or a conceptual construction for Christians to respond to The Real. Meanwhile, Panikkar abstracts the Trinity into a ‘Theandric’ structure so that it can be universally accepted by people of other religions. Using the research library method, this article reveals that Barth’s Trinitarian theology is still relevant in terms of providing theological inputs to remain faithful to the orthodox trinitarian faith in all the constructive endeavours of Christian theologians of religions.

Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: For the discipline of systematic theology, especially the doctrine of the Trinity, the conclusion of this article emphasises that any attempt to reconstruct the doctrine of the Trinity in the context of the theology of religions must not abandon the trinitarian grammar, which is in accordance with the testimony of the Bible, as stated by Karl Barth himself.