Status Updates From Evangelical Theology

[Those] whose spirits are all too cheerful and naïve, may and should repeatedly discover anew in the study of theology that everything theological is somewhat more complicated than they would like it to be. But those spirits who are all too melancholic and hypercritical should discover and rediscover that everything here is also much more simple than they, with deeply furrowed brow, thought necessary to suppose.

Karl Barth: “It does happen that the real relation of God to theology and the theologians must be described by a variation of the famous passage in Amos 5: I hate, I despise your lectures and seminars, your sermons, addresses, and Bible studies, and I take no delight in your discussions, meetings, and conventions….” Finished in the comments.

“While the theologian reads the newspaper, he cannot forget that he has just read Isaiah 40 or John 1 or Romans 8. He, at any rate, cannot suppress the knowledge that the Word of God speaks not only of an infinitely deeper need but also of an infinitely higher promise than the sum total of all the needs and promises characteristic of his time and place.”

“The Holy Spirit is the vital power that bestows free mercy on theology and on theologians just as on the community and on every single Christian. Both of these remain utterly in need of him. Only the Holy Spirit himself can help a theology that is or has become unspiritual. Only the Spirit can assist theology to become enduringly conscious and aware of the misery of its arbitrary devices of controlling him.”