Mystery and Revelation

Karl Barth wrote that, “God is always a mystery. Revelation is always revelation in the full sense of the word or it is not revelation” (CD I.8.2). God’s revelation, to Barth, always exists in a dialectic of being simultaneously veiled and unveiled—thus, we are always dependent upon God for God’s revelation, and it never becomes our possession.

The image of a dream might be helpful here. While some people are able to recall their dreams in vivid detail, for most people there is a perfect clarity while dreaming that vanishes in a moment upon leaving that unconscious realm. In…