Fast food Barth

It took Barth decades to write the Church Dogmatics; and it takes a couple of solid years to read the whole work through. But since ours is the generation of microwave ovens and fast food, I thought it would be appropriate to offer a one-week summary of the Church Dogmatics.

In the coming days, I’ll be posting a single-sentence summary of each of the 13 books that make up the Church Dogmatics, along with a quote from each book. Naturally, my tongue is in my cheek when I describe this as a “summary,” since Barth, more than any other theologian, resists even the most elaborate attempts at systematic summary. His thought can never be summarised or reduced to a set of propositions, because it is in a constant state of movement, dialectic, and life. When we try to summarise Barth, we necessarily lose all that is most interesting and most vital in his thought—just as we would lose everything that matters if we tried to “summarise” one of Shakespeare’s plays.

Faith and Theology: Church Dogmatics in a week