God's Search for Man

by Karl Barth, Eduard Thurneysen

This significant book shows why Karl Barth's theology has swept beyond his native Germany and affected the thinking of two continents. It is a companion book to "Come Holy Spirit", published by Round Table Press in 1933.

Widely known for many years for his fearless and prophetic thinking, Barth has not become world famous for his staunch defense of the Christian faith and for his leadership of the German clergy against Nazi paganism. For this the Nazis removed him from the faculty of Bonn University in Germany. He is now in exile.

In "God's Search for Man", Karl Barth presents his unique and fundamental conception of man's relationship to God and God's relationship to man. Here he discusses, in terms as plain as they are powerful, the tenets of his faith.

235 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1935

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.