Select Works of Donald G. Bloesch (9 vols.)

Examine Reinhold Niebuhr’s apologetic enterprise with this revised version of Donald Bloesch’s doctoral thesis. Bloesch throws light on Niebuhr’s attempt to establish the credibility of Christian thought in the public forum, focusing on how Niebuhr “sought to reevaluate the apologetic task in such a way as to make it consistent with the basic thrust of the Bible.” While providing a thorough and balanced analysis, he argues that Niebuhr’s “reevaluation does not do full justice to biblical revelation, especially where the nature of humanity is concerned” and that “in order to bring the apologetic task into accord with biblical themes there is a pressing need for a more radical reappraisal of this task.”

This personal notebook—Donald Bloesch’s spiritual journal—covers a range of subjects, including sin and sainthood, heresy and orthodoxy, the church and the sacraments, marriage and celibacy, failure and success, despair and hope.

Bloesch’s lucid, concise writing style polishes and illuminates the gems of his thought. The result is a scintillating collection of precision and depth—a treasury of theological reflection. This volume of the journal spans the years from 1969 to 1983.

This personal notebook—Donald Bloesch’s spiritual journal—covers a range of subjects, including sin and sainthood, heresy and orthodoxy, the church and the sacraments, marriage and celibacy, failure and success, despair and hope.

Bloesch’s lucid, concise writing style polishes and illuminates the gems of his thought. The result is a scintillating collection of precision and depth—a treasury of theological reflection. This volume of the journal spans the years from 1983 to 1992.

In Freedom for Obedience, Donald G. Bloesch endeavors “to present a viable alternative to legalistic ethics on the one hand and situational and relativistic ethics on the other,” to “arouse the wider Christian community in general and the evangelical community in particular to explore anew the theological foundations for both personal holiness and social justice.” He notes that the “thesis of this book is that human justice can never be a substitute for divine justification . . . but it can be a sign and witness to the justifying grace of God in Jesus Christ. Humanitarian works can never reach the heights of deeds of sacrificial love and mercy, but they can point to this higher righteousness and awaken a thirst for it.”

In Is the Bible Sexist?, Donald Bloesch breaks through the ideological polarization on the issues of male and female relations, while offering an alternative that is grounded solidly in the heritage of biblical faith.

Karl Barth’s theology is both challenging and disconcerting to those who stand in the tradition of Protestant evangelicalism. Yet his theological method presents a solid alternative to both rationalism and mysticism that dominate much current theology.

With striking clarity, Donald G. Bloesch analyzes Barth’s theology, placing special emphasis on his doctrine of salvation. Barth holds that everything that is of any consequence in the religious dimension of human life has already been accomplished in Christ. Johann Christoph Blumhardt characterized this theme by the phrase, “Jesus Is Victor!” In Christ Jesus, the victory over the powers of darkness was forever secured, and the whole world is now claimed for his kingdom. In this theology there is no final rejection of humanity by God, no irrevocable condemnation. Analyzing this controversial stance, Bloesch raises questions at many points—not as a hostile critic but as a student debating with a master teacher. The result is a significant evaluation of one of the theological giants of the twentieth century at the point of his major doctrine.

In The Battle for the Trinity, Donald G. Bloesch tackles the controversial issues surrounding the language we use to describe God, and how these are among most divisive issues facing the church in the twentieth century. Should God be addressed as Father, Mother, or Parent? Should Jesus be referred to primarily as the Son of God or the Child of God? Did God really reveal himself definitively in the person of his Son Jesus Christ? Bloesch contends that how we speak about God embodies the very core of Christianity and how we ultimately understand the biblical and historical meaning of the Trinity.

The debates surrounding the doctrine of God are many, and Bloesch urges the church to respond to the concerns of women that the sacred carries both masculine and feminine dimensions. Bloesch emphasizes that the God of the Bible is not described in masculine terms exclusively, and we err in our failure to recognize it. If Christianity is to remain “genuinely Christian,” these controversial issues must be dealt with in such a manner that will preserve the full historical and biblical understanding of the Trinity.

This volume presents an evangelical appraisal of modern theological thinking. It examines the views of nine leading theologians on the apologetic task today, from Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr, to Harvey Cox and Thomas Altizer. The strengths and weaknesses in the theology of each are set forth. Donald G. Bloesch contends that modern apologetics is often anchored in the spirit of the age and the values of the culture rather than in biblical revelation. This book calls on Christians to place their trust not in imperfect human reason, but in God’s self-revelation in Christ, which can be discerned only by faith.

In this book, Donald Bloesch sharply diverges from much traditional thinking on the relationship between theology and philosophy and suggests an alternative that is solidly anchored in biblical faith. Instead of seeing this relationship in terms of synthesis, correlation, or even simple subordination, he calls for the conversion and transformation of philosophical meanings in the light of the biblical revelation. Philosophy can be of considerable aid to theologians, Bloesch argues, but they must take care not to let philosophical concepts determine the meaning of faith. Reason can be enlisted in the service of revelation, but it cannot establish the truth of revelation.

Against the irrationalism of contemporary existentialist theology and the rationalism that has pervaded both scholastic orthodoxy (Catholic and Protestant) and liberal philosophical theology, Bloesch proposes an evangelical theology of revelation that seeks to employ reason in the task of understanding the faith. The author upholds not an autonomous reason but an obedient reason, and he shows that this ideal has support in the history of theology as well as in the Bible.