Customer Reviews

Barth for Armchair Theologians

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Reading Karl Barth's work can be a daunting task. With this work Dr. Franke has provided interested learners with a both a framework for understanding and a introduction to the thinking of a theologian widely recognized as one of the leading Christian theologians in Church history. That Franke could do so in a mere 166 pages is impressive.

The book itself is part biography, part historical (Barth's) theology. Franke demonstrates how Barth's theologizing developed under the influence of his personal and world events. From Barth's early family life and academic training to his pastoral and educational work, his maturing thought is illuminated and comprehended as an interaction with culture, life events, and especially his increasing reliance on the Word of God.

Discussion of Barth's magnum opus, Church Dogmatics (CD), does not take up the majority of this book, though it is covered in the longest chapter. Personally, I would have liked to have had two to three times the material discussing CD that Dr. Franke gives. However, what is presented is sufficient to assist the reader in entering into useful dialogue with Barth. I found the insight of making conscious use of the divisions (paragraphs and subsections) of CD most welcome.

Dr. Franke's work also described important works by other Barth scholars; his synopsis of George Hunsinger's & Bruce McCormack's works provide frames of reference and mindset that are crucial, I believe (I've read those works cited), to accurately comprehended Barth's writings.

Karl Barth is probably among the three most important theologians in Protestant history (along with John Calvin and Friedrich Schleiermacher). His insightful and monstrous Church Dogmatics is a daunting task for any reader (I'm just started on it myself), and he certainly has his own method of organizing and talking about theology.

John Franke, with an engaging and lucid style, tells the interesting story of the life of Karl Barth while explaining his theological development into liberalism and out of it. He concludes with a large chapter on the outline of the Church Dogmatics (which includes tips on how to approach the colossal work) and a chapter on the present and future prospects for engagement with Barth's unique "dialectical" theology.

I highly recommend this book to all those interested in 20th century theology and especially to those like myself interested in reading and understanding Barth.

a great over view of one of Barth's CDs before you tackle the volume yourself, but really Webster's intro book is the best

The author did a great job showing the development of Barth's life and thought, and I feel he gave a fair shake to his teachings and views. Most people completely botch Barth's teachings and compartmentalize him into boxes he doesn't fit in. The author does a great job demonstrating this and placing Barth where he belongs. Excellent job, five stars.

I bought this book for an express purpose: to try to learn how, and why, Karl Barth formed anything approaching a conservative Christian theology while simultaneously accepting the higher form and historical biblical criticism of Rudolf Bultmann et al and disdaining completely both natural theology and the experience-based empirical religious philosophy of August Schleiermacher. I can't say that I got any answers to either the how or the why, but the book did confirm for me that I have been reading Barth correctly: he seems to have upheld divine revelation through Scripture as a premise rather than a conclusion, and apparently somehow managed to do so without any ostensible dependence on reason or personal experience either one. I suppose my next line of query should be whether there exist any theologians NOT of the armchair variety, though I imagine that one of the younger instructors of the discipline at St. Louis University would have much to say to me about it.

That being said, though, this book seems to me to be a very good basic exposition of Barthian thought, eminently deserving the five stars all other reviewers at this writing have given it, but for one thing: the artwork. I have to go all the way back to the early eighties and my own college years and pick up a metaphor from the old, obscene "O.C. & Stiggs" feature in National Lampoon magazine to describe it: the "Campus Life Religion Dorks" appear to have commandeered the illustrations to make God, Jesus, and Barth all hip and contemporary and somehow appealing to young people. The giant long-haired long-bearded robed superhuman God doesn't even constitute the worst of the drawings; after all, when it comes down to brass tacks that's the conception of God a lot of people entertain, myself included when I was about four years old. It was the recurring Jesus with the nose that could have been imagined only by Nikolai Gogol, once with a construction hat on, again with a sandwich placard, and yet again hanging from a cross bleeding from the nails in his hands and making dry, witty quips. My God, my God, why hast thou...

Anyway: If you want a good basic book on Barthian theology and can stomach the drawings, by all means I recommend this book. Just be prepared to take the cheese along with the meat. I aim to buy the one in this same series on Bonhoeffer, too, as soon as I can work up the courage to look at it. I suppose I can only hope they didn't make light of his prison time and execution.

Who would ever describe a book about a theologian as fun? Yet that is just what this is. The drawings by Ron Hill are delightful and thought provoking. Just looking at them and trying to understand the artist's intentions was a delight.

This is a fine introduction to Barth's life and thought. Dr. Franke traces Barth's life and maps out his journey as one of the premier theologians of modern times. Franke's introduction to Church Dogmatics is a very helpful guide to that massive work.

I am a pastor who tries to read broadly. These little concise "Armchair" books have proven to be a welcome half-way point between deep study and reading for entertainment. They take on deep and solemn subjects but are so well written and easily grasped as to give one an evening of truly relaxing and enjoyable reading. You can finish and have had the pleasure of a good book and feel also that you have been "working," by studying theology! A great combination!

I need to pass these books along to the laity of the church and see how easy they are to digest for those without a formal theological education. About this series I say, "Keep them coming!"