Abstract

Paul Ramsey's criticism of Karl Barth 's Christological account of the state was based on a misconception of Barth's eschatology, but reflected, for all that, real differences in theology and political theory. The theological differences were susceptible of reconciliation, possibly to both thinkers' advantage; but differences of political theory, hardly recognised, which turned upon the legacy of contractarianism in Western liberal thought, kept their views apart.