Action in Waiting [Paperback]

Christoph Blumhardt (Author), Karl Barth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 1998

Given the number of people who've been "saved", you'd think the world was becoming a brighter place. It could be, too, if more people would grasp the joy of losing themselves in service to God and each other. People like Christoph Blumhardt, who, in his quest to get to the essentials of faith, burns away the religious trappings of modern piety like so much chaff. Blumhardt writes with unabashed fervour, but his passion encourages rather than intimidates. His witness influenced theological giants like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth. But Action in Waiting is not theology; it is too blunt, too earthy, too real. Its "active expectation" of God's kingdom shows us that the object of our hope is not relegated to some afterlife. Today, in our world, it can come into its own - if only we are ready.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Rodney Clapp, author, A Peculiar People
Pulse-quickening...In plain but vibrant language, Blumhardt reminds us that personal peace is merely the wrapping paper of a greater, even more magnificent gift: confidence in the coming of the kingdom.

Stanley Hauerwas, author, Resident Aliens
That Barth saw Blumhardt's significance is surely not accidental. Who else, besides Barth, is so unrelenting in their attack on religion? Who else reminds us that Christianity is about the worship and service of a strange God indeed? Who else uses the language of faith so straightforwardly and without apology? The fact that Plough has now made Blumhardt's work available is itself, as Barth would have put it, "a hastening that waits."

Eugene H. Peterson, author, Subversive Spirituality
On a landscape increasingly (and depressingly) eroded by world-accommodating strategies and programs, Blumhardt stands as a stark and commanding figure on the horizon. His life and writings are adrenaline for faltering and compromised followers of Jesus.

William Dyrness, author, Let the Earth Rejoice
Reading Christoph Blumhardt is like drinking from a pure, cold mountain stream. It is just the tonic we frantic postmoderns need...I always knew what an impact Blumhardt had made on Karl Barth, but after reading him I know why. --Endorsements

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

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Product Details

• Paperback: 253 pages
• Publisher: Plough Publishing House; Revised edition (June 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874869544
• ISBN-13: 978-0874869545
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my 4000 Books, October 15, 2010

By 

Jeremy D. Myers "Writing at Till He Comes .org" (Westtown, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Action in Waiting (Paperback)

Blumhardt influenced the thinking of people like Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jacques Ellul, and Jurgen Moltmann. He thought that the greatest danger to human progress was "Christianity" - Sunday religion where people attended services to pray and sing, but never let the love of God flow through their lives to a hurting world.

This book contains a collection of some of his sermons (if you can call them that...) which express some of his seminal ideas. It's an easy to read, and thought provoking book. I highly recommend it.