Karl Barth: Both-and or Either/or thinking?

Bingo. Protestantism has nominalist DNA. The stronger the "protestant," the greater the tendency to think in terms of either/or. In his essay, "Nein," Karl Barth rejected Brunner's both-and of nature and grace, maintaining special revelation as the only way human beings can have any knowledge of God. Barth is the perfect exemplar of either/or thinking. But some of us find it narrow, and ultimately deficient.

The following is from my friend, Ivan Noel:

Let me celebrate, as a Catholic, the fact that Karl Barth was born on a day like today, May 10th, by quoting him, via Tracey Rowland, in a most peculiar passage, critical of Catholicism.

As it turns out, and not surprisingly, Barth saw as problematic one of the things that increasingly attracted me to Catholicism for decades before I finally discerned to go in Rome's direction, namely, the Catholic ethos of the "both/and." This is Rowland, citing the great Swiss theologian, precisely in a short section of her book *Catholic Theology* called "The Catholic word 'and.'" (The section also includes quotations by Catholic theologians Stratford Caldecott and Cardinal Gerhard Müller, on the same issue.)

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"When addressing the important doctrinal principles that divide Catholic from Protestant theologians, Karl Barth (1886-1968) argued that it is the Catholic attraction to the word 'and' that is the most distinguishing hallmark of Catholic theology. In 1963 he wrote:
The greatest obstacle to reunion between Protestants and Catholics is a little word which the Catholic Church adds after nearly every one of our Protestant affirmations. It is the little word 'and.' When we say Jesus, Catholics say 'Jesus and Mary.' We seek to obey Christ, our only Lord: Catholics obey Christ and his Vicar on earth, the Pope. We believe the Christian is saved through the merits of Jesus Christ. Catholics add, 'and our own merits,' that is, because of works. We believe the sole source of Revelation is scripture. Catholics add 'and Tradition.' We say knowledge of God is obtained by faith in His word expressed in scripture. Catholics add 'and by reason.'
Catholic theologians [Rowland continues to say] try to transcend dualisms by paying close attention to the relationships between different elements of Catholic teaching. Inclusivity and relationality are typical attributes of Catholic theology, not dualisms or sharply defined either/or options."
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(T. Rowland, *Catholic Theology* (T&T Clark, 2017), p. 26.)