[590] a temporal [i.e. temporary] banning of the demonic^a from the earth, but only TEMPORAL, not FINAL. Finally, towards the great struggle at the end of history^b, the demonic will let loose again, out of its underworld prison, and will reappear. This is the language of the myth^c. Now we tried to translate this language in the problem of the European^d situation in the twenties, and it is easy to do this. The biblical vision is not utopian. The development of the divine is connected with the development of the demonic^e. Both of them grow in power^f and destructiveness. But there is always one special demonic power which can be fought against and which will be thrown into the prison and banned for a time. This is the depth and wisdom^g of the biblical symbolism^h, which you could see in the actual historyⁱ of this century. Some demons were de-demonized, for instance the capitalists. Others grew in power, for instance the nationalistic^j. But also the nationalistic was conquered, for a certain time. These demonic forces are not the ultimate; they can be attacked and they can be conquered. And in the very attack against them, even Lutheran^k Christianity^l in Germany^m has developed its greatest spirituality and power against the transcendentalism of the Lutheran tradition. A man like Karl Barth changed several times when he saw that Hitler REPRESENTS what religious socialismⁿ had told him, years and years before, namely not a secular^o phenomenon of history only, but in its depth-dimension a demonic force reaching down to dimensions of the ultimate--then he changed his position, and again started the fight which he had done as religious-