Hans Frei’s description of Karl Barth’s theological method as one of ‘ad hoc correlation’ invites a new assessment of the relationship between §17 of the Church Dogmatics (‘Revelation as the Abolition of Religion’) and the wider argument in which it is set. On the basis of such an assessment, the claim is made in this article that §17 is an intrusion into an otherwise integrated theological argument and is occasioned only by Barth’s attempt to correlate this wider argument to a then prevailing theory regarding Christianity’s relationship to other religions.