The Faith of the Church: A Commentary on the Apostle’s Creed according to Calvin’s Catechism
Overview
The Apostles’ Creed presents the foundation of Christian faith. The interpretive version of the Apostles’ Creed formulated by the Swiss reformer John Calvin in his catechism has been the basis of Protestant theological education for centuries. In The Faith of the Church, Karl Barth—one of the powerful and enduring theologians of modern Protestantism—reinterprets the Apostles’ Creed according to Calvin’s catechism.
Barth’s theology has been a mobilizing influence of modern religious thought. Repudiating every theological accent which permits man either self-sufficiency or independence from the action and grace of God, Barth takes seriously the meaning of the catechism—which is to direct man to the knowledge of God. His interpretations of the catechism, organized according to the Catechism’s questions, are unimpaired by technical language or jargon. They are direct, moving, and exceedingly penetrating. This is not a work to employ the attentions of those indifferent to the heart of Christian faith. It is a work calculated, however, to disturb and deepen the faith of those who imagine themselves already Christian.
Get Barth's Church Dogmatics, this title, and more with the Karl Barth Collection (49 vols.).
Key Features
- Featues a key title from Karl Barth
- Examines an important topic from a Reformed twentieth-century perspective
- Provides biblical exegesis combined with deep concern for theological orthodoxy'
Top Highlights
“In the New Testament, to glorify signifies: to make either oneself or someone else appear such as he is; to show forth something in its essence; to reveal the secret either of one’s own existence or of another’s.” (Page 26)
“The love of God is not an abstract quality of God’s; it is an act: God takes to heart our misery. In Jesus Christ, He declares His mercy unto us and puts this mercy to work, and there is no mercy towards us outside Jesus Christ.” (Page 37)
“In the name of Jesus, there is no difference between ‘person’ and ‘name.’” (Page 59)
“He states (objectively) that God is the beginning of our life and, from that, he infers (subjectively) that our life is senseless except in reference to his glory.” (Page 26)
“But, by mentioning only resurrection, the Creed presents death as already overcome, it introduces it into the movement of God’s victory.” (Page 162)
- Title: The Faith of the Church: A Commentary on the Apostle’s Creed according to Calvin’s Catechism
- Author: Karl Barth
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Print Publication Date: 2006
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Pages: 188
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564 › Catéchisme; Apostles’ Creed
- ISBNs: 9781597528009, 1597528005
- Resource ID: LLS:FAITHOFTHECHURCH
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T23:54:24Z
Karl Barth (May 10, 1886–December 10, 1968) was a twentieth-century Swiss theologian in the Reformed tradition. A vigorous opponent of theological liberalism and modernism, he is sometimes called “the Father of Neo-Orthodoxy.”
