Engaging with Barth: Contemporary Evangelical Critiques

by Daniel Strange (Editor)

This volume aims to engage with Karl Barth's questions and answers on a range of topics vital to Christian theology. Specifically, whether by going beyond, behind or against Barth, the chapters presented here attempt to provide a contemporary orientation to certain aspects of Barth's theology that can be deemed problematic from the standpoint of historic, confessional evangelicalism. Why engage with Barth? And why the particular approach of this book?
The answer to the first question is that Barth's significance as arguably the greatest theologian of the twentieth century - increasingly being recognized in an ongoing renaissance of international Barth scholarship - means that Barth provides both opportunity and challenge for evangelicalism. There is
renewed interest in the question of how evangelicals should or should not appropriate Barth. Given the sheer diversity within worldwide evangelicalism, a consensus is unlikely to be reached. Be that as it may, in a range of areas, evangelical theology stands to gain from careful and critical listening to what Barth has to say.

Genres: Theology

408 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2009

About the author

Daniel Strange was born in 1974 to British and Guyanese parents. After studying theology and religious studies at Bristol University, he completed his doctoral work on the theology of religions under Prof. Gavin D'Costa. From 2000-2005 he was Co-ordinator for the Religious and Theological Studies Fellowship, part of UCCF. He joined the faculty of Oak Hill Theological College, London as Tutor in Culture, Religion and Public Theology in 2005. In 2018 he became the Director of Oak Hill. His book, Their Rock is Not Like Our Rock, received an Award of Merit for Theology/Ethics in Christianity Today's 2016 Book Awards. Dan is a Contributing Editor for Themelios. He is married to Elly, has seven children and serves an Elder at East Finchley Baptist Church. He regularly suffers as a season ticket holder at West Ham United.

Reviews

[raysilverwoman · Rating 4 out of 5]

read only a few of these essays (about five) for a church book club, so i can only speak for a portion of the book. that being said, it's good material, especially helpful on the negative end (most of the Reformed camp are adamantly pro-Barth nowadays, so it is difficult to find cogent critiques that lean more negative). the essayists i read here did appear intellectually honest and thoughtful and were adamant to dispel any Barth caricature, which is admirable. it is important, however, that one is familiar with the more specific denominations these scholars are writing in/out of, and i would, of course, recommend one have their Church Dogmatics/other Barth material on hand for primary reference.

[E.J. Roussell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really solid book with some really strong contributions. If you are wrestling with Barth’s thought and want even-handed, critical engagements, or if you are looking for a “lay of the land” before jumping into the Church Dogmatics for yourself, I recommend this as a good resource to have and consult.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this and engaged with most chapters. Particularly appreciated Horton's final chapter on Barth's legacy. Recommended.

[David Goetz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection that has received less attention than it deserves. Contents are as follows:

Henri Blocher, "Karl Barth's Christocentric method"
Sebastian Rehnman, "Does it matter if Christian doctrine is contradictory? Barth on logic and theology"
Ryan Glomsrud, "Karl Barth as historical theologian: the recovery of Reformed theology in Barth's early dogmatics"
A.T.B. McGowan, "Karl Barth and covenant theology"
David Gibson, "The Day of God's mercy: Romans 9-11 in Barth's doctrine of election"
Mark D. Thompson, "Witness to the Word: on Barth's doctrine of Scripture"
Michael J. Ovey, "A private love? Karl Barth and the triune God"
Garry J. Williams, "Karl Barth and the doctrine of the atonement"
Paul Helm, "Karl Barth and the doctrine of the atonement"
Oliver D. Crisp, "Karl Barth and Jonathan Edwards on reprobation (and hell)"
Donald Macleod, "'Church' dogmatics: Karl Barth as ecclesial theologian"
Michael S. Horton, "A stony jar: the legacy of Karl Barth for evangelical theology"

Stand-out essays were those by Blocher, Gibson, Helm, Macleod, and Horton. None of the contributors are afraid to appropriate Barth where helpful or to challenge him where problematic.

[Nathaniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was only able to read about three quarters of this book, and to my knowledge of Barth these articles lead the reader to think that Barth is further outside the evangelical camp than he actually is. Probably not worth the read if you are interested in understanding the fullness of Barth's ideas, but every now and then the reader does get a slight glimpse into his world.