A tribute to Ernst Kasemann and a theological testament

Anglican Theological Review, Summer 1998 by Zahl, Paul F M

So much for today! Heartfeltedly yours, and thankfully and provocatively!

Yours,

Ernst Kaseman

The last letter I received from Kasemann was dated Reformation Day 1996. He had just received a copy of my book. Never one not to be provocative-again, one of his favorite words-he returned a fourth time to my point concerning his tendency to "de-individualize." How does an individual come to faith in your scheme?, I had asked. If God's intervention on the human stage, exorcizing the world of its demons, is 100% of the equation, where is human subjectivity in any recognizable form? Kasemann would not let go on this one and again referred to his experience with the Nazis. In his struggle against them, he was no idea of a person, rather he was one sole being against the world. He was a revolutionary radical "partisan."

Finally, Kase:mann draws us back to Romans 9-11. He wants this section of Paul's letter to be a full part of any thinking on justification. He sees the corporate dimension of the doctrine as being embedded in this "second part" of Romans (to which he has devoted half his life). He concludes with greetings from himself and from his wife of over 60 years.

Reformation Day, 31 October 1996

Dear Herr Zahl!

You have given me rich gifts for my 90th birthday. I thank you warmly for your congratulations and for the essay concerning my relation to my teacher Bultmann2. I am in deep agreement with it. Now I am overtaken with surprise by the just-published German edition of your dissertation3. It has reduced my linguistic reservations about it to merely minor points. It was good that my old illness, chronic bronchitis, rendered me infirm for an uncommonly long time and thus postponed my thank you for your gifts. Otherwise I could not have given you my fir al response to your book. I have read it gladly and with great interest.

The printed edition has particular strength because the themes have been consciously set out in clear delineated sections. The difficulties of ;German) language that I might have foreseen are scarcely evident. Similarly, it is inconceivable to me how much you have read that was unknown to me. It is also excellent what you say about my dialogue with 1 my old teachers. I wonder whether German reviews will go into that in precise detail, or even notice its importance. In sum: your hook is entirely better than I could ever have expected.

On two points, however, I have to offer serious criticism:

1. My theology of justification absolutely cannot be accused of "de-individualizing" persons. I reject utterly Bultmann's Idealism, and the Idealism of many others. They want to emphasize the "individualit)" and self-understanding of the Apostle. They do not see that the human being according to Paul is in his human body the projection of good and bad powers also. I cannot predicate the word "godless" of the crucified Christ. The Crucified calls on the Father as He dies, and the Christian is not defined simply by light or by darkness. The Christian exists both as one who is under attack ("Angefochtenen") and at the same time as victor. Pentecost occurred in this world, but we obtained, in a world that is for the majority of its inhabitants a living hell and nrmains so, the spirit of the child, who prays and also coinplains, the First Commandment, and the Lord who makes us free in our "weakness." We live from our forgiveness. Resistance and service make that concrete. So I could not say that God leads us into godlessness in order to draw us back to Him. That would be blasphemy. God acts on our behalf against his enemies. They then become His creatures in the experience of being "reduced to nothing." We experience that we are just dreamers when it comes to our own righteousness. We wish to rescue ourselves on our own power. From guilt, suffering, and death we will never be able to free ourselves, even as Christians. But we have the Lord, who carries us through this earthly life and makes us His witnesses. To the Christian, our environment here will always be enigmatic. Tc be "in Christ" and at the same time in the body remains a miracle.