Chapter 8 The Heaviness of Lightness and the Lightness of Heaviness - On the Way to the Archives of Theologian Karl Barth

When I first arrived in Basel, I loved to say to my Swiss friends here: The city of Basel is a famous city in Chinese intellectual circles. It's just a small county, but Chinese intellectuals who study Western culture know its name. For Chinese literati who have never experienced Basel's natural style, Basel's fame is first of all due to its university.The University of Basel has a history of 500 years. In the past 100 years, many famous scholars have shown their talents here and opened up a new world of cultural creation: Professor Burckhardt of cultural history has created a new direction of cultural history research here , the Greek professor Nietzsche was conceived here, the philosopher Dilthey boarded the professor's inaugural lecture here, the esthetician Wolflin revolutionized art history and aesthetics here, and the psychologist Jung spent his life here. In the student days full of dreams and whimsy, the philosopher Jaspers spent his calm thinking old age here.Living in Basel, there is a feeling of being in the company of academic free spirits. When I stepped into the bright and spacious teaching building for the first time, I stared silently at the bust of Wolfflin for a long time; For the professor who walked into the classroom, I spent a long time thinking about his relationship with Nietzsche.

The people of Basel didn't take much interest in my compliments, not because they weren't proud of their city.It turned out that in their eyes, none of the above-mentioned cultural celebrities could be ranked.For Basel Scholars, the first to be proud of are two theologians surnamed "Ba": Karl Barth and Hans von Balthasar. I regret to tell my friends in Basel that it is these two old "Basels" who are rarely heard of in the Chinese intellectual circles. Baltasar is known as "the most educated man in Europe", a master of contemporary Catholic theology, and a great writer. He is only representative of the first volume of "Glory: Theological Aesthetics", the first volume of the trilogy of truth, goodness, and beauty. (The other two are four volumes of "Theological Drama" and three volumes of "Theological Logic"). The breadth of its exposition and the richness of its thoughts are astonishing.This great work not only describes in detail the Western aesthetic thoughts from the Greek era, the Church Fathers era, the Middle Ages to modern times, but also thoroughly reveals the inner relationship between the Western aesthetic spirit and the Christian spirit, making people understand the sacred character of Western art. The roots are clear.As one scholar pointed out: In comparison, the aesthetics of Gadamer and Adorno appear too thin.But as far as the scope of theology is concerned, I personally think that Balthazar is the most important Catholic theologian in this century, and his thoughts are more far-reaching than the famous Karl Larner.If one considers that the essence of modernity is aestheticism, the importance of Balthazar's thought is understandable.

I went to Basel too late to see Balthazar.This generation of masters passed away in Basel last year.Baltasar was very concerned about Han culture and often prayed for China in his later years.His academic assistant told me how happy he would be if I saw him in his lifetime.Unfortunately, I only caught up with the Vespers Mass that the people of Basel commemorated the anniversary of Balthasar's death.The bells for evening prayer resound throughout the city of Basel, making people feel that the spirit of the master is always with you. Although Baltasar spent most of his life in Basel, his birthplace was not Basel.As the founder of theology in the twentieth century, Karl Barthes was a true son of Basel who was born in Basel and died in Basel.In the eyes of Basel people, Bart is naturally the most proud.

Adjacent to Basel is the famous German city of Freiburg, only about 40 kilometers away. The two cities not only complement each other in the beauty of scenery, but also are like sisters.Even me, a "foreigner", can go back and forth at will without a visa, but only with a temporary residence permit in Basel. "Foreigners" in other Swiss states do not enjoy this preferential treatment. In the history of modern academic thought, the contributions of Freiburg and Basel are equally equal: Freiburg is associated with the names of Husserl and Heidegger, while Basel is associated with the names of Barth and Balthazar, as the saying goes It is said that Freiburg had a double "H" and Basel had a double "B".The double "H" is the founder of contemporary philosophical thought, and the double "B" is the founder of contemporary theological thought. "Logical Research", "Being and Time", "Ecclesiastical Dogmatics", and "Theological Trilogy" are all the foundation works of the Chaotu era.

Interestingly, the thoughts of the theologian Karl Barth coincide with Husserl and Heidegger on some basic issues. Husserl's basic question is: whether the basic laws and basic laws of logic, ethics and aesthetics are transferred from human nature, and whether the laws of truth (laws of logic) are only the functional laws of human thinking.Husserl's answer is no.The laws of logic do not depend on human nature, they are rooted in the essence of the "object", and are by no means an essential law that people can control arbitrarily.Karl Barth's basic question is: whether God, as a divine being, is the construction and assumption of human nature, and whether the divine is the projection of human intention or desire.Karl Barth's answer was a firm no.In his view, the divine is by no means something that man finds or constructs.God is in heaven, and man is forever on earth.Husserl and Barthes both raised the slogan of "returning to the facts themselves", which has profound academic implications.

The coincidence between Karl Barth and Heidegger is also thought-provoking, which is the infinite distance between man and God.Although the two of them had very different understandings of dictators in the Nazi era, who often pretended to be in the name of the nation, the country, and even the name of a sacred mission, they both believed that people are people in this world, forever on the earth, apart from the sacred. far away.Heidegger sees clearly that man is far from existence, let alone the divine, because God, the divine, is more hidden than existence.Karl Barth argued that the gap between man and God is infinite, and God is the absolute other.Heidegger never babbled about God, and Karl Barthes insisted that only God can talk about himself.Both of them gave a profound critique of optimistic humanism, and both denied the existential label others put on them.Heidegger's Dasein and Karl Barth's Dransein are indeed different words with the same effect.Although in the theologian Barthes, God finally came to the individual through Christ, he insisted on antichristism, which I think is by no means just a general meaning.

I kept thinking about these questions as I made my way to the Barthes archives. Barthes was expelled from Germany for his natural refutation of the Nazi state-national ideology—"Third Reich" meant "Holy Kingdom."He returned to his hometown of Basel and taught at the University of Basel for nearly thirty years.Barthes rejected the Nazi Party's leadership of the church and the Nazi ideology's guidance to theological research.Barthes opposed the Nazi totalitarian dictatorship in politics, and insisted on academic self-discipline in theology.He did not become a political theologian, but engaged in purely academic research from the problematic nature of theology itself.Theology is theology, not politics.It was in Basel that Barthes basically completed his great book, "Ecclesiastical Dogmatics", which is known as one of the three milestones of Christian theological thought.

Although Basel City is small, its cultural quality is quite high.There is a slang proverb: "Basel is a great small city, Zurich is a small big city." Indeed, "greatness" is not measured by volume and area, otherwise the most "great" land of mankind is the desert.In Little Basel, there are thirteen art galleries and museums.It was here that Dostoevsky had a mental crisis in the Art Museum.However, what greeted me was the Contemporary World Art Exhibition.I don't know how to paint, and I am blind, so I still went to steam pottery.In the face of these art galleries and museums, I have no reason not to feel ashamed that my ancient civilization does not cherish literature, art and learning.

The scholar's memorial (archive) is also a great pride of Basel.There are already Jaspers archives and archives of several other natural scientists here.Not long after Balthazar's death, his assistant told me that the Balthazar Archives was under construction.The Karl Barth Archive has long been established. The Barth Archives is Barth's former residence.This is a very ordinary and old-fashioned two-story building, located on the beautiful and quiet Bruderholz hill in the outskirts of Basel.I took the tram jingling all the way up the hill from the city.Dr. Hinrich Stoevesandt, the curator of the archives and Barth's student at the time, was already waiting for me at the door.This archive has always been open to scholars from all over the world, and scholars from all over the world often come to consult documents.

Dr. S led me from the living room on the first floor to Bart's study on the second floor.The walls along the stairs are covered with a row of portraits of cultural figures, who must have been Barth's favorites.I don't know all of these people. As far as I know, there are: Schleiermacher, Kant, Mozart, Overbeck, Luther. The second floor is Barth's study room and bedroom, which are actually two study rooms, because the bedroom is full of books except for a simple bed. Martin Luther's nearly ninety volumes of complete works (old editions) occupy several rows of bookshelves.

Dr. S told me that Barth’s archives preserved all of Barth’s letters, manuscripts, lecture notes, notebooks when he was a student, and even calendar notebooks. All works (including translations in various languages).The main task of the archives is to edit the complete works of Barthes (more than 20 volumes have been completed, and it is expected to reach more than 80 volumes) and to receive visiting scholars.To my surprise, such an archive has only two staff members (including Dr. S).Scholars who study Barthes are all over the world (scholars from Taiwan went to Basel to study with Barthes in the 1950s, and young people from Hong Kong went to Europe to write doctoral dissertations on Barthes in the 1970s).There are still many students from all over the world completing their doctoral thesis on Barthes in Basel, and there are 400 undergraduates registered in the Department of Theology of the University of Basel.Twenty years have passed since Barth's death, and some theologians also claim that theology has now entered a post-Barthe era, but in Basel, people still feel that Barth's era has not yet passed. In Barth's study, I talked with Dr. S for nearly two hours, from Barth's personality, the past, present and future of Barth's studies, to the Chinese translation plan of Barth's works. ... Before leaving, he gave me Barth's new edition of "Introduction to Evangelical Theology" and a photo of Barth taken in the era of Nazi dictatorship: Barth with a cold eyebrow.This photo can quite reflect Barth's personality, and it also reminds me of the individual existence of scholars.Scholars do not carry a halo of sanctity, and are still ordinary people rather than saints (Bart’s private life is special, he lived with his lover for a long time, and was buried beside him after death. To my surprise, when talking about this matter with church people, there is no surprised reaction).Academic research is not a historical feat or a career that can change the world, but a form of life.Academia is a unique living area with its self-discipline and purity.What is unusual about a scholar as an ordinary person is only that he is attracted by that way of being called academics, which is not a way of living in words, but a way of being in them.Academics should be attributed to academics, and non-academics should be attributed to non-academics.Barth's cold eyes seem to show contempt for all violations of the academic self-discipline of theology. Coming out of Bart's simple old house, I couldn't help but feel a little heavy.This is not because there is still no way to access academic archives in China. What I think of is: neither Barthes, Husserl, or Heidegger had deep thinking and rich speech, but they did not live in a peaceful and affluent environment. made.They lived in equally chaotic and cataclysmic times (two world wars).Can't Chinese scholars do it, no matter how frustrating the world is, neither pessimistic and self-absorbed, nor eager for quick success, stick to their own academic field? Barthes loved Mozart's music all his life.In his later years, Bart first listened to Mozart in the morning, and then read the Bible.In his book on the beloved Mozart he has a line: Das Schwere schwebt und das Leichte uwendlich schwer wiegt (Life is the lightness of heaviness and the infinite heaviness of lightness).Why not the academic career? On the way back to college, I kept weighing this sentence. Basel, May 1989