Church Dogmatics A Selection

Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics is his opus and this book is a good introduction segemnted by topics that are most pressing and relevant to today's reader. By reading this book one gains an insight into this fabulous author's deep understanding of God's mind. There are passages that address the meaning of life,humanity,the individual,ethics, sex, marriage, work and many very timely and timeless issues. He gives a philosophical, theological and deeply spiritual view in every instance. He tells the reader how his thinking changed as he matured and how the revised edition differs from the initial edition. He is honest, deep and at times requires some patience due to his unique style (which reminds me the writing style of William Faulkner). The careful and serious reader will be richly rewarded.

For a theologian who rejects inerrancy, Barth certainly has a lot to say about the Scripture. Evangelicals often are unsure what to do with Barth, lumping him into a liberal category for what they consider his low view of scripture. After reading a sermon such as his Strange New World, one cannot deny his brilliance and perhaps overlook things as his view on inerrancy and seemingly almost universal view of salvation (although to this he never did admit and alas, died before finishing the last installment of his great work Church Dogmatics, which would have covered eschatology..so we'll never know for sure). This great work most certainly is to be taken with a grain of salt, perhaps even some alka seltzer for the more conservative among us. Still, there is much here of merit, I particularly enjoy his critique of fundamentalism as Biblicism and think that we as evangelicals need to have an answer to that critique, at least those of us that hold to innerrency and sola scriptura. Barth's work on Calvin is an interesting read on this subject, as one can imagine. BTW When I say I read it, I don't mean all of it. Anyone who knows the size of this work and Barth sometimes wandering style knows what I mean.

Okay, this is probably high heresy, but Barth is *the* most over-rated theologian of the last century and *one* of the most over-rated intellects overall. His early stuff serves as a prelude for that monstrosity produced by Bultmann and his later stuff (post controversy with Brunner) is just bizarre. The product of a Germanic mind in love with his own ratiocination and *sitzfliesch.*CHURCH DOGMATICS is a work of monumental irrelevance, published 1400 years too late and only fit for consumption by hard core systematic theology junkies today. I defy anyone to find *any* pastoral use from it and I question if anyone finds any insight into *biblical* theology (the only one that *really* matters) from it.Otherwise, for graduate students by all means use this to avoid the soul numbing experience of the full multi-volume work.Selah.

Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics is one of the most important theological treatises of all-time, which set the agenda for religious thinking in the first half of the 20th Century. However, its sheer size and depth (reminiscent of Aquinas' Summa Theologiae) frequently discourage average readers from delving into its treasury of insights. Professor Gollwitzer's short selection of the Dogmatics provides a useful introduction to Barth's most important themes, especially his understanding of revelation, Christology, and salvation. Great reading for any serious college or seminary student who wants to wrestle with the mind of this great Christian thinker!

For those who want to a hearty taste of Karl Barth's Church Dogmactics, this is the book. The only reason this book isn't ranked higher in my mind is that its divisions of Barth's theology by topics sometimes break up coherent arguments. Still this is the best book short of reading every volume of Barth's Church Dogmatics.