TRINITY AND ONTOLOGY: A Comparative Study of the Theologies of Karl Barth and Wolfhart Pannenberg

This study examines how Pannenberg uses idealist thought and its implications for orthodox Christian doctrines. It elucidates how idealism controls Pannenberg's system, and shows that Barth's theology also reflects Hegelian logic at a deep level. Argues that both offer a deeply trinitarian ontology, each being in debt to central Hegelian ideas. Following the comparative appraisal of Barth and Pannenberg, the author draws out deep differences between theologies which bear the Hegelian stamp and central Christian orthodoxy in terms of revelation, creation, God, man and reconciliation.