Karl Barth
Karl Barth was born on the 10th of May 1886 in Basel, Switzerland. His father Johann Friedrich Barth served as a theology professor and pastor at the University of Berne. Karl grew up with two younger brothers named Peter and Heinrich. He also had two sisters named Katharina and Gertrude. The family expected him to follow their conservative Reformed line of Christianity. Karl instead desired a liberal Protestant education that clashed with his upbringing. He began his student career at the University of Bern before transferring to Berlin. There he studied under Adolf von Harnack. He later moved briefly to Tübingen before settling in Marburg. In Marburg he studied under Wilhelm Herrmann who lived from 1846 to 1922.
Barth began to gain substantial worldwide acclaim with the publication in 1921 of the second edition of his commentary. This work was titled The Epistle to the Romans. It marked an open break from liberal theology. He first wrote the commentary during the summer of 1916 while serving as a pastor in Safenwil. The first edition appeared in December 1918 but carried a publication date of 1919. He decided around October 1920 that he was dissatisfied with the initial draft. He spent eleven months heavily revising it. The revised version finished around September 1921. A lecture delivered in Arau in 1916 captured his new dialectical approach. He argued that God's righteousness interrupts one's obligation to nation. A No to these assumptions knocks one to the floor. A Yes to God's righteousness sets one on one's feet again.
In 1934 Barth became largely responsible for writing the Barmen Declaration. This declaration rejected the influence of Nazism on German Christianity. He mailed this document personally to Adolf Hitler. The text argued that the Church's allegiance to Jesus Christ should resist other lords like the German state. He was elected a member of the Bruderrat which served as the leadership council of the Confessing Church. His professorship at the University of Bonn ended in 1935. He refused to swear an oath to Hitler alongside Kurt von Fritz. Only two professors refused to take the oath. Barth returned to Switzerland and assumed a chair in systematic theology at the University of Basel. In 1938 he wrote a letter to Josef Hromádka declaring soldiers fighting against Nazi Germany were serving a Christian cause. The newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung carried his criticism of Martin Heidegger from 1936.
Barth's theology found its most sustained expression in the five-volume magnum opus known as Church Dogmatics. It runs to over six million words spanning 9,000 pages. One volume covers the Doctrine of the Word of God while another addresses the Doctrine of God. A third volume discusses Creation and a fourth examines Reconciliation. The fifth volume covering Redemption remained unfinished. The first part appeared in 1932 and the final parts reached publication in 1967. The work represents the pinnacle of his achievement as a theologian. It contains his doctrine of the word of God and doctrine of reconciliation. The text also includes his doctrine of redemption. The planned fifth volume was never written. The fourth volume's final part-volume remained incomplete. This massive project required decades of labor and defined his legacy.
One of the most controversial features of Barth's Dogmatics involved his doctrine of election. He rejected the idea that God chose each person to be saved or damned based on Divine will. His theology entails a firm rejection of an eternal hidden decree. To ascribe salvation to an abstract absolute decree makes some part of God more definitive than Jesus Christ. God's absolute decree is God's gracious decision to be for humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus embodies both God's election of humanity and God's rejection of human sin simultaneously. Critics like Emil Brunner charged that this view amounts to soft universalism. Barth denied he was a Universalist yet asserted eternal salvation for everyone is a possibility Christians should hope for. He wrote that we must not arrogate to ourselves what can be given only as a free gift.
Charlotte von Kirschbaum served as Barth's theological academic colleague for more than three decades. She lived in the family home for 37 years playing a large role in writing Church Dogmatics. In 2017 Christiane Tietz examined intimate letters written by Barth, Charlotte, and Nelly Barth. These letters discussed the complicated relationship between all three individuals over 40 years. The correspondence from 1925 to 1935 made public the deep intense love between Karl and Charlotte. Barth described a permanent conflict between his marriage and his affections for her. He stated they decided not to solve the problem with separation on one or other side. When Charlotte died in 1975 Nelly buried her in the family tomb. Nelly died the following year. The publication of these letters caused a considerable crisis among English-speaking followers of Barth.
Barth was featured on the cover of Time magazine on the 20th of April 1962. This indicated his influence had reached mainstream American religious culture beyond academic circles. He lectured at Princeton Theological Seminary and the University of Chicago during a 1962 visit to the United States. Pope Pius XII is sometimes claimed to have called him the greatest theologian since Thomas Aquinas though no chapter and verse exists for this quote. Barth died on the 10th of December 1968 at his home in Basel. The evening before he encouraged Eduard Thurneysen that things are ruled entirely from heaven above. The Center for Barth Studies opened at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1997. It holds the largest collection of his works in the world including original handwritten manuscripts. His work continues to influence ethicists like Stanley Hauerwas and John Howard Yoder.
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Common questions
When and where was Karl Barth born?
Karl Barth was born on the 10th of May 1886 in Basel, Switzerland. His father Johann Friedrich Barth served as a theology professor and pastor at the University of Berne.
What major work did Karl Barth publish in 1921 that broke from liberal theology?
The second edition of The Epistle to the Romans published in 1921 marked an open break from liberal theology. He first wrote this commentary during the summer of 1916 while serving as a pastor in Safenwil.
Why did Karl Barth refuse to swear an oath to Adolf Hitler in 1935?
Karl Barth refused to swear an oath to Adolf Hitler alongside Kurt von Fritz because he believed the Church's allegiance to Jesus Christ should resist other lords like the German state. Only two professors refused to take the oath before his professorship at the University of Bonn ended.
How many volumes does Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics contain and when were they published?
Church Dogmatics runs to over six million words spanning 9,000 pages across five planned volumes with the final parts reaching publication in 1967. The fifth volume covering Redemption remained unfinished and the fourth volume's final part-volume also remained incomplete.
Who was Charlotte von Kirschbaum and what role did she play in Karl Barth's life?
Charlotte von Kirschbaum served as Karl Barth's theological academic colleague for more than three decades and lived in the family home for 37 years playing a large role in writing Church Dogmatics. She died in 1975 and Nelly buried her in the family tomb.