This important work explores the complex relationship between two of the twentieth century’s most formidable Christian thinkers—Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Seizing on a much-discussed criticism that Bonhoeffer made of Barth’s theology in his prison letters—that Barth was guilty of a “positivism of revelation”—Andreas Pangritz challenges scholars who have used this statement, despite being left undeveloped by Bonhoeffer, as a wedge to separate the two theologians. Through a careful study of Barth’s and Bonhoeffer’s works, of their correspondence, and of Barth’s comments and revisions after Bonhoeffer’s death, Pangritz clarifies the close yet sometimes strained relationship between Barth and Bonhoeffer and cautiously makes the case that Bonhoeffer’s criticism has been overemphasized and did not mark a significant breach between the two great theologians. Much more than a study of a disputed discourse in historical theology, this engaging volume also raises concerns of continuing relevance regarding the role of theology in our secular society.

In this creative and original book, Paul S. Chung interprets Karl Barth as a theologian of divine action. Chung appreciates Barthis dogmatic theology as both contextual and irregular, and he retrieves neglected aspects of Barth's thought. The book also clarifies Barth's early interest in social and political ideas, and explores the political dimension in his later dogmatic writings, particularly in relation to his theology of Israel and issues of theologia naturalis and religious pluralism. Barth's theology can only properly be understood through his social commitment, and Chung, drawing together the traditions of German and Anglo-Saxon theology, shows how Barthis political ideas relate to his theological position.

Wolf Krötke, a foremost interpreter of the theologies of Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, demonstrates the continuing significance of these two theologians for Christian faith and life. This book enables readers to look with fresh eyes at the theologies of Barth and Bonhoeffer and offers new insights for reading the history of modern theology. It also helps churches see how they can be creative minorities in societies that have forgotten God. Translated by a senior American scholar of Christian theology, this is the first major translation of Krötke's work in the English language. The book includes a foreword by George Hunsinger.

A constructive approach from a theological perspective about the category of religion in Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth.

This volume uncovers Barth's and Bonhoeffer's influences on one another and reads them side-by-side, revealing the insights both theologians bring to today's secular and religious context. Greggs addresses the meaning and the extent of salvation, God's relation to time and eternity, sin and confession, and inter-faith dialogue for a church that critiques its own practice of religion. This is a lively exploration of the implications of two great theologians' work for a completely secular and religious world.

Karl Barth's attitude toward the Jews, despite some admittedly unfortunate elements, still has much to commend it and the essays in this volume discuss this matter. The contributors examine numerous topics: the extent to which Barth compares favorably with recent post-Holocaust theologies, Barth's position on the Jews during the Third Reich, his critique of the German-Christian Völkish church on ethical grounds. The discussion tackles Barth dialectical “Yes” to Israel's christological “No”, it unpacks his ground-breaking exegesis of Rom. 9-11; as well as examines Barth's rejection of the 1933 Aryan Law that formed the basis for excluding baptized Jews from Christian communities during the Third Reich. The essays also examine Barth's later worries about Nostra Aetate, Vatican II's landmark “Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-christian Religions”. This is followed by an in-depth explanation how Barth's theology differentiated the question of religious pluralism from church's relationship with Judaism. This inspiring volume concludes by taking up the neglected question of Barth's place in modern European history.

Bonhoeffer's writings include a significant amount of biblical interpretation, but his potential contributions in the fields of biblical studies and theological exegesis of Scripture have not been sufficiently explored. This study reassesses some of his key exegetical writings in light of his theology of revelation and bibliology, unfolding the ways in which his reading of the Bible is determined by his theology of Scripture. Through this analysis, Joel Banman demonstrates that the uniting factor of Bonhoeffer's biblical interpretation is not methodological but bibliological: he reads Scripture as the living word of the present Christ.

Karl Barth was an eminently conversational theologian, and with the Internet revolution, we live today in an eminently conversational age. Being the proceedings of the 2010 Karl Barth Blog Conference, Karl Barth in Conversation brings these two factors together in order to advance the dialogue about Barth's theology and extend the online conversation to new audiences. With conversation partners ranging from Wesley to Žižek, from Schleiermacher to Jenson, from Hauerwas to the Coen brothers, this volume opens up exciting new horizons for exploring Barth's immense contribution to church and world. The contributors, who represent a young new generation of academic theologians, bring a fresh perspective to a topic--the theology of Karl Barth--that often seems to have exhausted its range of possibilities. This book proves that there is still a great deal of uncharted territory in the field of Barth studies. Today, more than forty years since the Swiss theologian's death, the conversation is as lively as ever.

Karl Barth’s commentary on Paul’s epistle to the Romans, in its two editions (1919 and 1922), is one of the most significant works published in Christian theology in the 20th century. This book, which landed “like a bombshell on the theologians’ playground,” still deserves close scrutiny one hundred years after its publication. In this volume, New Testament scholars, philosophers of religion and systematic theologians ponder the intricacies of Barth’s “expressionistic” commentary, pointing out the ways in which Barth interprets Paul’s epistle for his own day, how this actualized interpretation of the apostle’s message challenged the theology of Barth’s time, and how some of the insights he articulated in 1919 and in 1922 have shaped Christian theology up to our day. With his commentary, the young Swiss pastor paved the way for a renewed, intensely theological interpretation of the Scriptures. The volume thus centers of some of the key themes which run through Barth’s commentary: faith as divine gift beyond any human experience or psychological data, the Easter event as the turning point of the world’s history, God’s judgment and mercy and God’s one Word in Jesus Christ. This volume represents a major contribution to the interpretation of Karl Barth’s early thought.

This book is an analysis of Karl Barth's understanding of the relationship between theology and philosophy. Kenneth Oakes shows the complexity and variability of Barth's thoughts on theology and philosophy and challenges the typical views that Barth was either too hostile towards philosophy or too indebted to it.