Karl Barth: A Life in Conflict

Since it’s Barth’s birthiversary allow me to recommend the best bio of Barth yet written:

From the beginning of his career, Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968) was often in conflict with the spirit of his times. While during the First World War German poets and philosophers became intoxicated by the experience of community and transcendence, Barth fought against all attempts to locate the divine in culture or individual sentiment. This freed him for a deep worldly engagement: he was known as “the red pastor,” was the primary author of the founding document of the Confessing Church, the Barmen Theological Declaration, and after 1945 protested the rearmament of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Christiane Tietz compellingly explores the interactions between Barth’s personal and political biography and his theology. Numerous newly-available documents offer insight into the lesser-known sides of Barth such as his long-term three-way relationship with his wife Nelly and his colleague Charlotte von Kirschbaum. This is an evocative portrait of a theologian who described himself as “God’s cheerful partisan,” who was honored as a prophet and a genial spirit, was feared as a critic, and shaped the theology of an entire century as no other thinker.

Karl Barth on Faith: A Systematic Exploration

The present volume examines an underdeveloped component in the theology of Karl Barth. Specifically, the work asks: how, and to what extent, can faith be understood as ontologically proper to the trinitarian becoming of God? The work argues for an ontological grounding of faith in the becoming of God. To do so, Watson performs an in-depth examination of Barth’s understanding of the concept of faith. Using Barth’s threefold movement of revelation, the work contends God can be thought of as the subject (Glaubender), predicate (Glaube), and object (Geglaubte) of faith. Barth’s theological exposition of Jesus as subject and object of election offers a promising proposal for how faith is ontologically understood. At the same time, the argument brings to the fore a crucial component of Barth’s theological program, namely, the concept of recognition (Anerkennung). God’s recognizing faith is then conceived as the condition of the possibility of human faith. Drawing on Barth’s entire oeuvre, Watson offers an understanding of the divine becoming of faith that opens possibilities for thinking systematically about the realization of the corresponding human faith.

The blurb above notes that this volume examines an underdeveloped component of Barth’s theology.  If, like me, you’re a bit surprised to learn that any aspect of Barth’s theology hasn’t already been treated to extensive examination then we are on the same page.

What part of Barth’s theology hasn’t been put under a microscope and thoroughly micro-studied?  Apparently ‘Faith’.

In this revised dissertation Watson (whom I constantly refer to in my head as Wason because of Brandon Wason) takes readers through the hinterlands of Barth’s mind where he wrestles with the notion of faith.

In the first chapter he sets the stage by describing his methodology and the historical precedents to Barth’s view of faith.  The second chapter is a genuine ‘reception history’ of Barth’s writings, tracking chronologically Barth’s works and the parts therein where Barth deals particularly with the subject of faith.  From the 1919 edition of Romans to Gottingen and Munster to his lectures on ‘Instruction in the Christian Faith’ to his pre-Dogmatic works.

The third chapter is the most interesting as Watson ties Barth’s pneumatology to his Christology and thus to faith.  Here the bulk of the material is drawn from the CD and its relevant sections.

Chapter four dives headlong into the implications of faith for the doctrine of election.  Materials spanning the apex of Barth’s theological career are the source here.

The fifth chapter is something of a summary of the implications of all of this and the keystone is the discussion Watson offers of CD I/1, 6.4,  ‘God is πιστις’ and the trinitarian manifestation of that fact.

Chapter six is the conclusion and it includes a nifty little section called ‘Potential Objections’.  The chapter nicely draws all the strings together and provides some hints for future investigations of the subject.

The book ends with a few appendices which give readers an overview of Barth’s lectures and theological influences.  There’s also a bibliography and a subject index.

Barth’s theology certainly deserves such intense and thorough evaluations as we find here in Watson.  There’s nothing wrong with the book.  Keep that in mind for what follows.

Karl Barth has, through no fault of his own, become more important than he actually is.  He is to modern theologians what Paul is to New Testament writers:  overhyped and over discussed.

The effort scholars put into Barth (and Paul) perhaps should be expended on other equally insightful theologians and biblical authors.  Paul (and Barth) suck all the air out of the room in too much scholarship.  So while books on Paul (and Barth) continue to flow like beer at a frat party, equally deserving subjects of study are being ignored.

I get it.  Popular topics make for popular books which sell better than books on obscure persons and theologians.  But scholarship isn’t about examining the most popular thing, it’s about the search for truth.  And, believe it or not, Barth (and Paul) are not the only ones who have a pretty good grasp on an aspect of truth.

In sum, then, while this book is wonderful, insightful, helpful, and brilliant maybe we should have a moratorium on books about Barth (and Paul) until others also receive the attention they deserve.

Take the microphones away from Barth (and Paul) and put them in front of the guy who has but one tiny mic…

What are they Saying about The Commentary

I’m still getting a lot of use out of the Commentary.  I appreciate the fact that you’ve written it to be understandable for people who don’t have theology degrees or read the original text languages, but gives us insight into what we’re missing. I don’t feel like it’s talking over my head or dumbing-down the material for me, but it gives some insight into the depth of information that’s out there. – Ken Leonard

Get your copy of The Commentary here.

The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus

Edited by Crossley and Keith.  But that’s not the important part.  The important part is that Helen Bond and Amy-Jill Levine have written chapters in it.  That makes it more than worth the cost of admission.

After a decade of stagnation in the study of the historical Jesus, James Crossley and Chris Keith have assembled an international team of scholars to renew the quest for the historical Jesus. The contributors offer new perspectives and fresh methods for reengaging the question of the historical Jesus. Important, timely, and fascinating, The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus is a must read for anyone seeking to know the real Jesus of Nazareth.

And, as an aside, thank God it isn’t another book about Paul.  Anyway, very excited to read it when it comes out.

Problems Only Bibliophiles Understand

Via Jenny Han on the twitter-

Rezeption und Memoria der Reformation im östlichen Europa

Der Band präsentiert Beiträge von Forscherinnen und Forschern aus Ungarn, der Slowakei, Tschechien, Polen und Deutschland. Sie thematisieren Phänomene und Prozesse der Erinnerungskultur der Reformation vom 16. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert im östlichen Mitteleuropa in Konzentration auf markante Beispiele: Themen wie Geschichtsschreibung, Bildende Kunst, Literatur und Architektur werden ebenso behandelt wie Ausprägungen der Fest- und Memorialkultur und deren Wechselwirkungen mit den jeweiligen politischen und religiösen Gegebenheiten. Geographisch schlägt der Band den Bogen von Siebenbürgen über Ungarn, die Slowakei, Böhmen, Schlesien, Pommern, Polen, Preußen bis ins Baltikum und nach St. Petersburg. Die Vielzahl der Fragestellungen bietet dabei zahlreiche Übertragungsmöglichkeiten. Der Band formuliert nicht eine bilanzierende Zusammenfassung, sondern will neue Anregungen zur Beschäftigung mit der Rezeption der Reformation in Ostmitteleuropa vermitteln.

The Theology of the Book of Samuel

The inestimable John Goldingay has written a new volume titled The Theology of the Book of Samuel (Cambridge U Press), due out in early May.

I’m as keen to read it as I am to read everything else he writes.  He’s super.

Order a copy.

Hebrews

The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that God is trustworthy—that we can trust in Jesus’s defeat of death to lead us to eternal life. Complicating this crucial message, the letter’s enigmatic origins, dense intertextuality, and complex theological import can present challenges to believers wrestling with the text today.

Amy Peeler opens up Hebrews for Christians seeking to understand God in this learned and pastoral volume of Commentaries for Christian Formation. Her fresh translation and detailed commentary offer insights into Christology, the relationship between Judaism and Christianity, and the letter’s canonical resonances. She pays special attention to how the text approaches redemption, providing consolation for the anxious and correction for the presumptuous.

Peeler explains the letter’s original context while remaining focused on its relevance to Christian communities today. Pastors and lay readers alike will learn how Hebrews helps them know, trust, and love God more deeply.

I’m looking forward to seeing what she has to say.  More anon, as a review copy arrived today.

«Wenn Gott durch die Finger blinzelt»

Konrad Schmid, Komtur der Johanniterkomturei Küsnacht am Zürichsee und enger Freund Ulrich Zwinglis, hielt am 24. März 1522 in Luzern anlässlich der Prozession auf die Musegg die Festpredigt vor über 3000 Zuhörenden – 15 Tage nach dem Wurstessen bei Froschauer in Zürich. Diese Predigt Schmids ist die älteste gedruckt erhaltene Predigt eines Zürcher Reformators und wurde – wie viele andere seiner Predigten – stark beachtet. Obwohl einzelne von Schmids Formulierungen noch in der aktuellen Zürcher Kirchenordnung erhalten geblieben sind, ging sein Beitrag zur Zürcher Reformation fast vergessen.

The book at hand is a brilliant work of theological historiography.  It expends significant effort to inform inhabitants of our era of the historical context of an important sermon in an epoch of upheaval and change.  Then, having set the stage for Konrad Schmid’s sermon, it provides a short biography of the preacher.  Next the theological context for the sermon is provided (by a different essayist) which is then followed by the story of the printing of the ‘Antwurt’ as a Flugschrift.  Included in this chapter is a facsimile of the Antwurt.

Since facsimiles are sometimes a bit hard to decipher (what with all the strange fonts and such) the next chapter gives readers both a transcription of the Antwurt and a modern translation.

The 6th chapter (if you’ve lost track) is a thorough analysis of the sermon and the seventh chapter an overview of the sermon’s afterlife (or what the kids today call its ‘Reception History’).

The 8th chapter brings readers to a birds eye view of the Reformation in Luzern and the 9th chapter makes the case that the sermon became and served as a key text of the Swiss Reformation.

There are indices for the sources both written and visual (because there are images throughout in full color).

5 Contributors make this volume an absolute delight both to read and to look through.  It is, for lack of a better term, aesthetically beautiful both because of its lovely font and because of its gorgeous illustrations.

But most people don’t buy books because of their aesthetic.  They buy them because they sound interesting or because they’ve been recommended by a friend or because their author is famous and readers want to be able to talk about the newest hit around the water cooler at work.

This book is better than all that.  It doesn’t just sound interesting (take a look at the full table of contents at the link above), it actually is interesting.  It isn’t just recommended by a friend (that would be me), it’s HIGHLY recommended.  And the authors may not be Taylor Swift famous, but when Taylor’s songs lie mouldering in the grave of indifference because the newest pop star has come along in a few years, the authors of this volume will have given us something timeless and profound.  Truly profound, not pop music ‘profound’.

Get a copy.  Read it.  Get your friends a copy.  Make them read it or tell them you’ll no longer be friends with them.  It’s that good.

Tolle, lege!

Judah in the Biblical Period

The collection of essays in this book represents more than twenty years of research on the history and archeology of Judah, as well as the study of the Biblical literature written in and about the period that might be called the “Age of Empires”. This 600-year-long period, when Judah was a vassal Assyrian, Egyptian and Babylonian kingdom and then a province under the consecutive rule of the Babylonian, Persian, Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires, was the longest and the most influential in Judean history and historiography. The administration that was shaped and developed during this period, the rural economy, the settlement pattern and the place of Jerusalem as a small temple, surrounded by a small settlement of (mainly) priests, Levites and other temple servants, characterize Judah during most of its history.

This is the formative period when most of the Hebrew Bible was written and edited, when the main features of Judaism were shaped and when Judean cult and theology were created and developed.

The 36 papers contained in this book present a broad picture of the Hebrew Bible against the background of the Biblical history and the archeology of Judah throughout the six centuries of the “Age of Empires”.

Proper Library Rules

These rules apply to my personal library as well (which, frankly, I only allow visitors in once a year or so)…

Umberto Eco – On Libraries

“Until then I had thought each book spoke of the things, human or divine, that lie outside books. Now I realized that not infrequently books speak of books: it is as if they spoke among themselves. In the light of this reflection, the library seemed all the more disturbing to me. It was then the place of a long, centuries-old murmuring, an imperceptible dialogue between one parchment and another, a living thing, a receptacle of powers not to be ruled by a human mind, a treasure of secrets emanated by many minds, surviving the death of those who had produced them or had been their conveyors.” – Umberto Eco

Ministers of Propaganda

Good evangelical Christians are Republican. It seems like it’s always been this way. 
 
That means the propaganda is working. 
 
Scott Coley trains a critical eye on the fusion of evangelicalism and right-wing politics in Ministers of Propaganda. This timely volume unravels rhetoric and biblical prooftexting that support Christo-authoritarianism: an ideology that presses Christian theology into the service of authoritarian politics. Coley’s historically informed argument unsettles evangelical orthodoxy on issues like creation science or female leadership—convictions not as unchanging as powerful religious leaders would have us believe. 
 
Coley explains that we buy into propaganda because of motivated reasoning, and when we are motivated by perceived self-interest, the Christian message is easily corrupted. But if we recover Jesus’s commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, right-wing propaganda will lose its power. Any reader troubled by American evangelicals’ embrace of racism, misogyny, and other unchristian views will find answers and hope in these pages.

Reformation and Everyday Life

The European reformations meant major changes in theology, religion, and everyday life. Some changes were immediate and visible in a number of countries: monasteries were dissolved, new liturgies were introduced, and married pastors were ordained, others were more hidden. Theologically, as well as practically the position of the church in the society changed dramatically, but differently according to confession and political differences. This volume addresses the question of how the theological, liturgical, and organizational changes changes brought by the reformation within different confessional cultures throughout Europe influenced the everyday life of ordinary people within the church and within society. The different contributions in the book ask how lived religion, space, and everyday life were formed in the aftermath of the reformation, and how we can trace changes in material culture, in emotions, in social structures, in culture, which may be linked to the reformation and the development of confessional cultures.

This wonderful collection of papers which were first delivered in 2021 at a REFORC meeting.  The Leseprobe at the link above provides readers with a lot of the opening pages of the book including of course the TOC.

And don’t worry about the German of the website, the book is in English and the materials available are too.

The essays themselves are fascinating.  I am particularly taken by Wandel’s ‘The Reformation of Time’ in which she investigates the ways that Missals were modified and adapted by the Reformed.  Sometimes it’s the things you wouldn’t think about looking into that provide the most new information (or at least new to you).

Along with the usual historical and theological treatments we also find forays into the world of art and how the Reformation impacted it.  Noble’s essay on Durer is a fascinating example of this field if investigation.

Not to be missed for any reason is Stjerna’s examination of women in the European Reformations.  Their contributions are indisputably epoch making and significant and until recently they simply haven’t received the attention they deserve.  Old white guys talking about old white guys has seen its time and now, thankfully, that time is past.

Other essayists also bring the importance of women in the Danish Reformation and beyond.

There are footnotes, bibliographies, and an index, along with a description of each of the contributors which finishes up the volume.

It’s true that of the making of books there is no end.  Some (if not most, let’s be honest) should be ignored as they don’t deserve the time they get.

But others, like the present work, richly deserve a thorough reading and those who will are themselves richly rewarded.

Ketzer und Heiliger: Das Bild des Johannes Hus zwischen Reformation und Aufklärung

Der 1415 auf dem Konstanzer Konzil als Ketzer verbrannte Johannes Hus wurde vor der Reformation gemeinhin als ein Häretiker betrachtet. Mit Luther und der anbrechenden Reformation begann jedoch ein Umdeutungsprozess, der zu einer völligen Neubewertung von Hus führte. Bereits früh wurde er auf Seiten der Reformation als Heiliger, Märtyrer und Vorläufer Luthers betrachtet. Auf römischer Seite galt Hus jedoch weiterhin als prototypische Ketzergestalt. In einem ersten Teil der Studie untersucht Eike Hinrich Thomsen die Prozesse und Ereignisse, die dazu geführt haben, dass sich das Bild von Hus mit der beginnenden Reformation nachhaltig ändern sollte. Ein zweiter Teil verfolgt einzelne Rezeptionsstränge, die bis in das 18. Jahrhundert hineinreichen. Neben der starken lutherischen Hus-Rezeption werden auch andere Gruppen wie Reformierte, „radikale Reformer“ oder Katholische untersucht. Über die schriftlichen Quellen hinaus werden zahlreiche bildliche und materielle Quellen in die Untersuchung miteinbezogen.

The TOC and the front matter and other sample bits are available here.

Readers of the present volume are treated to a meticulous reception history of Johannes Hus both by Luther and others and by generations after the Magisterial Reformers lie mouldering in the ground.

How Hus was turned from a heretic to a martyr opens the work and how that image guided the reception he received by the second generation of reformers and afterwards guides the first major division of the book (for the full TOC see above).

There’s an incredible amount of information about Hus in this portion of the volume related to his work as a musician as well as his work as a reformer before the Reformers.  But his reception by the likes of Karlstadt and Munzer and Hubmaier and others is really something to behold.

The second major segment of the book focuses on things like how Hus was incorporated into Luther-memoria and the Protestant view of Hus and how the lines connecting him to Luther influenced that reception and his memory.  It also discusses the various editions of Hus’s works by the likes of Flacius and Rabus and Walpurger.

The ghost of Hus was also dragged into use in connection to the Council of Trent, becoming a weapon in the hands of the Protestants commenting on that Catholic gathering.

And finally, the work ends with a look at the way that Hus’s death was utilized by martyrologists and apologists.  In sum, poor Hus became nothing less than a central figure for identifying one’s confessional attachments.  He became, for lack of a better term, a sort of shibboleth.

This is one of the most engaging and well developed revised dissertations that I’ve read in a while.  It has everything that one would want in a book:  good writing, an engaging narrative, and a terribly interesting subject.

I recommend this work to those who enjoy Church history.  Particularly the history of the Reformation and the church to the Enlightenment.

I hope you’ll read it.  I think you’ll want to once you take a look at the materials available on the publisher’s website.

If You’re Looking for a Commentary on the Bible…

The Commentary is worth looking into.  It can be yours, in PDF, for a lowly $75.  That’s right- get the only complete commentary on the Bible written by a single person in the last 100 years or more for a ridiculously low price and feed your soul and your mind.

It is highly respected for a lay readership.  Check out some of the reviews:

***

These highly readable, but commendably erudite, commentaries are more than worth the full price.  — Heather Anne Thiessen, M.Div., Ph.D.

***

The best commentaries.  – Kevin Wilkinson, Singapore

***

I got the commentaries Memorial Day weekend and started with Genesis 1:1. This week I started the Book of Joshua. Never have I ever read the books of the Bible with such understanding. It has opened the scriptures in a way I’ve never before experienced. Lois told me about the commentaries ages ago. I wish I had gotten them sooner. Thank you Dr. Jim West for making them available.  – Judy Byrge

***

Jim West is a man of very decided opinions. However, and this is much to his credit, in the Commentary I’ve read he does not advocate his opinions about Scripture. What he does is explain and simplify, working from the original language, without being simplistic. And this is to be commended. – Athalya Brenner

***

“Seriously, … It is a really great commentary, and I’m enjoying and learning quite a bit from it.” – Ken Leonard.

Matthew Through Old Testament Eyes

Through Old Testament Eyes is a new kind of commentary series that illuminates the Old Testament backgrounds, allusions, patterns, and references that saturate the New Testament. These links were second nature to the New Testament authors and their audiences, but today’s readers often cannot see them. Bible teachers, preachers, and students committed to understanding Scripture will gain insight through these rich Old Testament connections, which clarify puzzling passages and explain others in fresh ways.

The Gospel of Matthew contains both overt and subtle connections to the Old Testament, capitalizing on the scriptural literacy of the work’s original, first-century Jewish audience. These complex and multifaceted connections are not always recognized by today’s readers, meaning significant ideas can be easily missed or misappropriated. David B. Capes elucidates these extensive backgrounds, echoes, quotations, ways of thinking, and patterns of living, showing how God’s plan–introduced in the Hebrew Scriptures–is revealed through the very person, work, life, and ministry of Jesus.

Avoiding overly technical discussions and interpretive debates to concentrate on Old Testament influences, this book combines rigorous, focused New Testament scholarship with deep respect for the entire biblical text.

This volume is a massively useful work showing how indisputably important it is to look at New Testament texts through an Old Testament lens (rather than the awful eisegetical practice of so many who read the Old Testament through the lens of the New).  Without the Old Testament there is no New.  And without a very, very good grasp of the Old Testament, any understanding of the New is both short sighted and inaccurate.

Mike Bird says (in his cover blurb) that Capes has shown how the Old Testament is the ‘substructure and scaffolding’ of the Gospel of Matthew, and he is correct in that evaluation.  That is exactly how the Old Testament functioned for the author of the Gospel.  Indeed, the Old Testament serves as the bones, internal organs, and tissue over which Matthew has laid the skin of his proclamation of the Christ.

Verse by verse and segment by segment Capes shows how the Old Testament is present at every turn and how Matthew, as a superior theologian, has drawn from those texts and utilized them to ‘preach Christ’.  And yet Matthew does it without decontextualizing the Old Testament.  Instead, he sees and hears theologically and he allows those theological insights to inform his understanding of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

The volume, besides being a commentary on Matthew, also provides readers with tables and informative asides aplenty along with a bibliography, endnotes (blerg), and a scripture index.

The best thing about the work, though, is the clarity and sensibility with which the text is dealt.  For instance, when Capes discusses the ‘fulfillment quotations’ (this was to fulfill the scriptures) he not only lists the passages in which they occur, he names their topics, lists their Old Testament sources, and tells who was doing the prophesying.  He notes that there were 12 of these Matthew included in his work.  12.  That’s not an insignificant fact.

Which brings me to my final observation regarding this volume: it’s right.  Capes is right.  He’s right in his comments and he’s right in his methodology and he’s right in his understanding of both the Gospel of Matthew and the Old Testament.

I wish more people who wrote books about the bible were right.  But those people are too few and too far between.  So when I encounter someone who is right, I appreciate their work and heartily and happily commend it to others.  As I do now, here, concerning this volume.

Get it.  Read it.  Learn from it.

Two Out of Three: Emil Brunner’s Dogmatics Online

The first two volumes of Emil Brunner’s Christian Dogmatics are online-

• Volume One
• Volume Two

Unfortunately volume three isn’t.  But maybe it will be soon.  Or you could just buy the print edition.  It’s very much worth it.

Barth’s Last Word to Brunner

“Barth’s letter arrived on the morning of 5 April. Vogelsanger cycled to the clinic at Zollikerberg, and informed Brunner that “Karl Barth sends his greetings!” He then read Brunner this letter by his bedside. Brunner smiled, pressed his hand, and shortly afterwards lapsed into an uncon­sciousness from which he never reawakened. He died at noon on Wednesday, 6 April 1966 at the Neumünsterspital at Zollikerberg, near Zurich. His funeral at the Fraumünster in Zurich on 12 April 1966 was led by Vogelsanger. ” – Alister McGrath

Never Forget How Withering Schlatter’s Review of Barth’s ‘Romans’ Is

From Karl Barth’s Theological Exegesis: The Hermeneutical Principles of the Romerbrief Period, by Richard E. Burnett.

Whatever you do, lay hold of the review.  It’s the best.