Karl Barth, who lived from 1886-1968, was perhaps the most influential theologian of the 20th century. Church Dogmatics, Barth’s monumental life-work that consists of more than 6 million words, was written over the span of 35 years. In it, Barth covers in depth the great doctrines of the Word of God, God, Creation and Reconciliation. He made it his task “to take all that has been said before and to think it through once more and freshly to articulate it anew as a theology of the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
From Time Magazine’s April 20, 1962 cover story we learn a bit more about Barth’s influence and the controversy he generated.
In the 20th century, no man has been a stronger witness to the continuing significance of Christ’s death and Christ’s return than the world’s ranking Protestant theologian, Swiss-born Karl Barth (rhymes with heart). Barth knows that the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection are not coherent, but he refuses to make the mystery more palatable to human reason by suggesting—as did the great 19th century Theologian D. F. Strauss in his Life of Jesus—that the story of the crucifixion is a “myth.” Instead, Barth argues that the subject of this unique event is God, not man; and only God can know the full truth of his own history. Man’s only road to understanding of this divine history is through faith—faith in the reality and truth of what the Evangelists so incoherently describe…Barth has been variously damned as a heretic, a narrow-minded Biblicist, and an atheist in disguise—and praised as the most creative Protestant theologian since John Calvin…
Harvard’s German-born Paul Tillich… calls him, “the most monumental appearance in our period.”…
Reinhold Niebuhr regards Barth as a “man of infinite imagination and irresponsibility”…
Dr. Cornelius Van Til of Westminster Theological Seminary speaks for a host of U.S. fundamentalists in charging that “Barthianism is even more hostile to the theology of Luther and Calvin than Romanism.”…
His treatment of Christian dogma has soared across denominational boundaries, affecting the thought of Baptists, Lutherans and Episcopalians as well as his own Reformed Church. Preachers read him, and his thought probably affects a good share of the sermons spoken in U.S. churches any given Sunday, but laymen hardly know his name.
If you have an interest in theology, you should own Barth. Barth’s dogmatic theology is loaded with engaging and provocative ideas, which will challenge you for years to come. Two characteristics that define Barth’s theology are his emphasis on the person of Christ (Barth “works from Christ outward”) and his insistence that ethics and theology cannot be separated. Barth taught that “theology is ethics,” since knowing God entails doing his will.
Barth’s theology was shaped by his experience of living and teaching in Germany during the rise of Nazism. By 1934, Barth had become a leader in the Confessing Church movement, which stood in courageous opposition to Nazism at a time when the German Protestant church had largely endorsed National Socialism. This stand cost him his professorship at Bonn University and he was forced to flee the country in 1935.
Barth has been called neo-orthodox, evangelical, and Reformed. Indeed, his views developed remarkably over his lifetime as he moved from a liberal position to one of dialectical theology (theology founded on paradoxes or tensions). Later in life, Barth abandoned the views of Friedrich Schleiermacher, Rudolf Bultmann, and the liberal tradition. He argued that God was not made in man’s image but is instead “Wholly Other.”
Barth is probably best described as “ecumenical” since his work is read by Protestants and Roman Catholics, mainstream and evangelicals. Indeed, Barth was described by Pope Pius XII as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas, and his work continues to be a major influence on students, scholars and preachers today.
How Should I study Barth?
My suggestion–get an electronic copy from Logos. The price is competitive with any paper edition you can find and worth every penny for its increased ease of use and power Logos gives you to explore this massive amount of text.
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Awesome! I have a question for you however about your endeavor:
Why are you limiting yourself to the Dogmatics? In my reading of Barth, I have been blessed by his other works (Romans, Shorter Commentary on Romans, Dogmatics in Outline, etc.). How about sneaking some of that in?
I am just starting with Barth.. so maybe those will come later for me.
But, please read along during the year and if you can bring in some quotes from these other works, that would be awesome. I hope to learn a lot this year from you and others who can add to the conversation.
Just a comment that it is helpful to read Barth “in community” (whether in a “live” group or along with a blog commentary like yours) because his writing can be pretty tough sledding.
I had the privilege this year of reading through the “word of God” sections of Church Dogmatics with a group of fellow seminarians. I literally couldn’t have done it without them!