Barth, Karl

(1886–1968)

   Theologian.

   Barth was born in Basle and was educated in the nineteenth-century liberal theological tradition. After the carnage of the First World War, he produced his ground-breaking Commentary to the Epistle to the Romans. Liberal theology, as taught by schleiermacher and his followers, stressed the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Influenced by writers such as dostoievsky and Kierkegaard, Barth’s ‘Crisis Theology’ insisted on the absolute transcendence of God and the total inadequacy of unaided human reason. He taught that God revealed Himself only through His Word, that is in Jesus Christ. Human beings are dependent solely on divine grace for salvation since their own efforts count for nothing. His views spoke to his contemporaries, struggling to make sense of the tragedy of war. Liberal ideas had plainly failed and Barth was the most influential theologian of his day. He taught at the Universities of Göttingen, Münster and Bonn and was largely responsible for the Barmen Declaration of 1934, which refused to allow the Confessing Church of Germany to be an instrument of Nazi policy. Expelled from Germany, he returned to Switzerland where he taught until his retirement in 1962. A highly prolific writer, he is remembered for his multi-volumed Church Dogmatics, dealing with the Word of God, the doctrine of God, creation and reconciliation. The final section on redemption was never completed. During his lifetime, many regarded him as a prophet and, although his views are now less fashionable, no account of twentieth-century theology can ignore his monumental contribution.

   R.J. Erler and R. Marquand (eds), A Karl Barth Reader, translated by G.W. Bromiley (1986);

   J. Bowden, Karl Barth (1971);

   G. Harsinger, How to Read Karl Barth (1970).