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a revolutionary unrest, always moving forward, longing for something better in the future rather than being satisfied with what is offered by the world of relativities. What Barth discerned in socialism was this revolutionary unrest and disquiet revealed in longing for the future. However, Barth was aware of August Bebel’s mistake of supporting the military appropriations bill which had been passed by the Reichstag in the summer of 1913. This is what Naumann called Bebel’s “last will and testament.” Such compromises in the Social Democracy did not signify a fundamental change of socialist direction as Naumann had expected. As Barth states, “If the Social Democracy should be transformed into a radical reform party on the soil of capitalism and nationalism as Die Hilfe so much expects—we do not believe it—then that would be for us at most a new disappointment, as the politics of Die Hilfe is finally a disappointment for us, not, however, a proof that a politics which simply capitulates before certain alleged realities is the only possible, the correct politics. We should expect more from God.”136

      Religious Socialism in Switzerland

      Barth’s theology cannot be properly understood without reference to his socialistic activity and Swiss religious socialism. His “Socialist Speeches” and activity until the outbreak of World War I—as has been described above—are themselves reflective of liberal theology, especially when dealing with a relation between theology and political praxis. However, after the war he made a new departure by breaking with his liberal background. To further appreciate Barth’s theology and social praxis after the war, it is first necessary to look at the movement of religious socialism in Switzerland. For understanding the development of religious socialism in Switzerland, it is worthwhile to take note of a historical event beginning with Christoph F. Blumhardt (1842–1919). Although Blumhardt is not depicted as a religious socialist in an authentic sense, the movement of religious socialism in Switzerland has one point of departure in him. Representatives of Swiss religious socialism such as Kutter and Ragaz were strongly influenced by Christoph Blumhardt. Blumhardt, properly understood, is both an example and father of religious socialism in Switzerland. Ragaz, in his book Der Kampf um das Reich Gottes in Blumhardt, Vater und Sohn, und weiter! is full of honor and respect for Blumhardt.

      Blumhardt is spiritually and theologically related to his father, Johann Christoph Blumhardt (1805–1880). In his parish at Moettlingen the elder Blumhardt was involved for two years in a process of healing a woman who suffered a high degree of hysteria as seen from a medical perspective. As she was healed, a voice sounded out: “Jesus is victor.” Thus, Jesus’s victory became the grounding principle for his healing work in light of the kingdom of God. For him, the kingdom of God had a strong cosmic and apocalyptic dimension rather than being confined to an individualistic and pietistic realm of salvation. The presently real quality of the kingdom of God was bound up with the incarnation of Jesus Christ. However, the reality of the kingdom of God was not restricted to the historical Jesus, but after the ascension the kingdom of God broke into the world in which the healing of a possessed woman was regarded as a sign of God’s in-breaking reality. What is important is that hope for the kingdom of God and the voice that said “Jesus is victor” was understood as an immanent concretization of God’s kingdom.

      According to the elder Blumhardt, the kingdom of God is not shortened or reduced to a spiritual, otherworldly salvation of the soul but is sharpened in concrete-physical and social-material realms. This tendency to integrate the material arena and concrete content into the movement of God’s kingdom finds a strong expansion in the younger Blumhardt. In 1852 Johann Blumhardt moved from Moettlingen to the retreat house in Bad Boll.

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