Regarding Karl Barth

by Trevor Hart

Publisher:

Paternoster

, 1999

Overview

In response to increasing world interest in Barth's theology, Trevor Hart provides a timely collection of essays evaluating the work of Karl Barth. Subjects addressed include: scripture and revelation, natural theology; pluralism; the doctrine of the Trinity; Justification by faith; and the nature and problems of religious language and ethics.

Regarding Karl Barth is a scholarly critique of this influential theologian, addressing issues of relevance to general evangelical readers as well as scholars, and dialoguing with other theologians, notably Lindbeck, Brunner and Küng.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Christian faith and speech are essentially response and not essentially source. God produces faith, and not vice versa.” (Page 8)

“All are justified because God has justified human existence in Jesus Christ, and all are bound up with him whether they know it or like it or not.” (Page 67)

“seek to justify faith on the basis of terms laid down by sinful unbelief, to bring Yahweh to Baal for his blessing.” (Page 132)

“God is by definition utterly transcendent, that he can be neither known nor spoken about by human beings as such” (Page 41)

“entails the addition of a human level of existence (‘nature’) to who and what God eternally is,” (Page 15)

Praise for the Print Edition

In this thought-provoking and clearly written book Trevor Hart wrestles with the theology of Karl Barth and compares Barth's thinking with other prominent contemporary theologians in a successful effort to articulate his own important theology. This book is not uncritical of Barth's theology, but instead sees it as a significant way of illustrating new theological loci such as justification, revelation, incarnation, morality, analogy and the Trinity . . . This book is must reading for students of Karl Barth's theology and for all serious theologians.

—Dr. Paul D. Molnar, Professor of Systematic Theology and Chair, Division of Humanities, St. John's University, New York

Lucid, well informed, and judicious, this book offers an excellent orientation to Barth's work for those starting to explore its riches, and will stimulate fresh thinking on the part of seasoned readers. In sum: highly recommended.

—John Webster, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford

Product Details

• Title: Regarding Karl Barth
• Author: Trevor Hart
• Publisher: Paternoster
• Publication Date: 1999
• Pages: 196

About Trevor Hart

Professor Trevor Hart, currently at the University of St. Andrews, teaches and publishes in Christian doctrine and systematic theology. He is the author of a number of books, including Faith Thinking, The Waiting Father: Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, Justice the True and Only Mercy: Essays on the Life and Theology of Peter Taylor Forsyth, and Hope Against Hope: Christian Eschatology in Contemporary Context. He is also the General Editor of The Dictionary of Historical Theology.