Church Dogmatics 3.3

Church Dogmatics #3.3

by Karl Barth, Thomas F. Torrance, Geoffrey William Bromiley

Described by Pope Pius XII as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas, the Swiss pastor and theologian, Karl Barth, continues to be a major influence on students, scholars and preachers today. Barth s theology found its expression mainly through his closely reasoned fourteen-part magnum opus, Die Kirchliche Dogmatik. Having taken over 30 years to write, the Church Dogmatics is regarded as one of the most important theological works of all time, and represents the pinnacle of Barth s achievement as a theologian. T&T Clark International is now proud to be publishing the only complete English translation of the Church Dogmatics in paperback.

Genres: Theology

560 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Protestant theologian Karl Barth, a Swiss, advocated a return to the principles of the Reformation and the teachings of the Bible; his published works include Church Dogmatics from 1932.

Critics hold Karl Barth among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important since Saint Thomas Aquinas. Beginning with his experience as a pastor, he rejected his typical predominant liberal, especially German training of 19th century.

Instead, he embarked on a new path, initially called dialectical, due to its stress on the paradoxical nature of divine truth—for instance, God is both grace and judgment), but more accurately called a of the Word. Critics referred to this father of new orthodoxy, a pejorative term that he emphatically rejected. His thought emphasized the sovereignty of God, particularly through his innovative doctrine of election. His enormously influenced throughout Europe and America.

Reviews

[Tom Robson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find reading theology like Barth's similar to what it must be like trying to drink directly under a waterfall: so much flows past but when I persevere I take something in that is very satisfying. I find his structure helpful for understanding God's fatherly Providence in terms of creating, preserving, accompanying (particularly this one) and ruling.

I remain unconvinced by his whole section on nothingness and evil, I need to spend more time on that. He goes too far into 'uncreated' waters as I've read it initially.

The section on angels is interesting but you have to keep digging into what he means by 'saga and legend' to see how he understands the truth of their action on earth.

However the very final section on demons I found the weakest of all. In the very final footnote he lists off the scripture references that have given rise to the 'fallen angel' understanding and dismisses them almost out of hand which I think is a real shame. He seems so keen to want the existence of evil to be under God's rule but not a fallen part of his creation.

And yet I will take away some lovely refreshing moments from this and think deeply on what it means that God would accompany us as a heavenly Father.

[Ben De Bono · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Volume 3.3 Barth covers the topics of providence, God's lordship, Nothingness (i.e. sin) and Angelology. There were a couple of key points that stood out to me as I went through the volume. First is Barth's insistence that a biblical view of God's lordship must not be understood except through the lens of God's fatherhood. It's a fascinating connection and one that, as Barth points out, separates the biblical concept of lordship from that of all other religions. God is not simply lord over his creation in an abstract, dictatorial sense. He is a Father to his creation. To miss this is to miss the heart of Christian theology.

I also found his discussion of angelology fascinating if, perhaps, a bit incomplete. Barth's insistence that our understanding of angels (or, to use his term, heavenly ambassadors) be grounded firmly and exclusively in Scripture is well made. At the same time, I couldn't help feeling that he overstates his case here a bit. He insists on expounding only what's in the text (which I agree with) but he seems reluctant to make even basic inferences from the text, which I ultimately found unhelpful and resulted in leaving his otherwise excellent exploration of the doctrine feeling incomplete.

As a side note, Barth's insistence on sticking to the text so rigidly here should give pause to those evangelicals (I'm looking at you Norman Geisler) who caricature Barth's understanding of Scripture and seem to believe he disregards Scriptural authority altogether. Barth's understanding of Scripture is far more complex than he is usually given credit for. Even if evangelicals find certain aspects of it untenable, they ought to have the intellectual integrity to recognize how complex and nuanced it truly is. But I digress.

Overall, this is another excellent volume. Now it's onto the final volume in Barth's doctrine of Creation in which he explores ethics. I'm very much looking forward to diving into that one.