A detailed study of how theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968) comprehended the connections between the Christian doctrine of God, the doctrine of humanity, and Christian ethics, a triad of concepts that the author refers to as Barth's theology of relations. He examines Barth's writings on parents and children to discuss Barth's ethics generally, and argues for the relevance of Barth's theology of relations to contemporary family issues. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Analysis of the theme of the 'Trinity' through the thoughts and works of Karl Barth

From the beginning of his career, Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886-1969) was often in conflict with the spirit of his times. While during the First World War German poets and philosophers became intoxicated by the experience of community and transcendence, Barth fought against all attempts to locate the divine in culture or individual sentiment. This freed him for a deep worldly engagement: he was known as "the red pastor," was the primary author of the founding document of the Confessing Church, the Barmen Theological Declaration, and after 1945 protested the rearmament of the Federal Republic of Germany. Christiane Tietz compellingly explores the interactions between Barth's personal and political biography and his theology. Numerous newly-available documents offer insight into the lesser-known sides of Barth such as his long-term three-way relationship with his wife Nelly and his colleague Charlotte von Kirschbaum. This is an evocative portrait of a theologian who described himself as '"God's cheerful partisan"' who was honored as a prophet and a genial spirit, was feared as a critic, and shaped the theology of an entire century as no other thinker.

This work, originally published as one volume in the Peter Lang series, Issues in Systematic Theology, is now available in two volumes. In the first volume, Gary Deddo shows how Barth grasped the nature of relations as intrinsic to the being and act of the Triune God and to God's relations to us and our relationship to God in Christ. Deddo then completes his comprehensive survey showing how Barth saw the reality of the divine relationships analogically pertains, by grace, to humanity and its creaturely relationships. Barth's doctrine of God, Christology, and theological anthropology are all intrinsically onto-relational (to borrow a term coined by Thomas F. Torrance). In the second volume, Deddo shows how Barth's relational theology is intrinsically ethical. As a case study Deddo explicates Barth's ethical teaching on the relationship between parents and children found in section 54 of his chapter on Freedom in Fellowship in CD, III/4. He further demonstrates the relevance and fruitfulness of Barth's theology of relations for critically engaging other theological and non-theological views of the family and for shedding ethical light on a wide range of contemporary issues facing families, especially in the North American context. Karl Barth is known for his insight into the inseparability of act and being in God. What is less recognized is that Barth's theological understanding of dynamic, covenantal relationship is also essential to his doctrine of the Triune God, his Christology and theological anthropology. God is revealed in Jesus Christ to be one in act, being and relation. Humanity is revealed in Jesus Christ to be essentially a unity of act, being and relation. The failure to see the ethical implications of Barth's theology can be traced in large part to the failure to gasp how Barth's understanding of God's being and act is also essentially relational. Deddo's work corrects this oversight and opens up the door to better comprehension of Barth's trinitarian doctrine of God, his Christology, anthropology and ethics.

This work, originally published as one volume in the Peter Lang series, Issues in Systematic Theology, is now available in two volumes. In the first volume, Gary Deddo shows how Barth grasped the nature of relations as intrinsic to the being and act of the Triune God and to God's relations to us and our relationship to God in Christ. Deddo then completes his comprehensive survey showing how Barth saw the reality of the divine relationships analogically pertains, by grace, to humanity and its creaturely relationships. Barth's doctrine of God, Christology, and theological anthropology are all intrinsically onto-relational (to borrow a term coined by Thomas F. Torrance). In the second volume, Deddo shows how Barth's relational theology is intrinsically ethical. As a case study Deddo explicates Barth's ethical teaching on the relationship between parents and children found in section 54 of his chapter on Freedom in Fellowship in CD, III/4. He further demonstrates the relevance and fruitfulness of Barth's theology of relations for critically engaging other theological and non-theological views of the family and for shedding ethical light on a wide range of contemporary issues facing families, especially in the North American context. Karl Barth is known for his insight into the inseparability of act and being in God. What is less recognized is that Barth's theological understanding of dynamic, covenantal relationship is also essential to his doctrine of the Triune God, his Christology and theological anthropology. God is revealed in Jesus Christ to be one in act, being and relation. Humanity is revealed in Jesus Christ to be essentially a unity of act, being and relation. The failure to see the ethical implications of Barth's theology can be traced in large part to the failure to gasp how Barth's understanding of God's being and act is also essentially relational. Deddo's work corrects this oversight and opens up the door to better comprehension of Barth's trinitarian doctrine of God, his Christology, anthropology and ethics.

Written in 1951 (with a second edition in 1961), this book takes its place within an impressive array of attempts to wrestle with Karl Barth's theology from a Catholic point of view. The book adopts the twofold strategy of presenting an exposition of "the whole of Barth's thought," while doing so for the purpose of a confessional dialogue among theologians. Not to be construed as an "Introduction to the Theology of Karl Barth," Balthasar's effort is to provide a Catholic response which, though not "official", nonetheless seeks to express a common direction and movement within Catholicism. The Theology of Karl Barth shows how a rethinking of basic issues in fundamental theology-concerning the relation of nature and grace, philosophy and theology, the "analogy of being" and the "analogy of faith"-might lead to a rapprochement between the two great rivers of Christianity, without compromising the center of gravity of either. In the process the book makes a major contribution to renewed understanding of Christianity in a secularized modern world. Co-published with Communio Books. "This reflection by one of the century's great Catholic theologians on the theology of one of the century's great Protestant theologians is an example of ecumenical dialogue at its best. One finds here a sympathetic and at the same time faithfully Catholic discussion of the major issues surrounding Barth's christocentricity. The appearance of an unabridged English translation of this book could hardly be more timely for the current religious situation in North America." - David L. Schindler, Gagnon Professor of Fundamental Theology, John Paul II Institute "No one should think he can quickly dispose of questions posed here offhandedly. It was precisely because writers were in the habit during the time of the Reformation of theologizing with a hammer that the split in the Church became irreparable. And to work at overcoming this split means much effort. Only the patient need apply." - Hans Urs von Balthasar

This refreshingly accessible introduction to Karl Barth by Mark Galli takes readers on a whirlwind tour of the life and writings of this giant of twentieth-century theology. Galli pays special attention to themes and topics of concern for contemporary evangelicals, who may need Barth's acute critique as much as early-twentieth-century liberals did--and for surprisingly similar reasons.