Karl Barth

Professor of Theology, University of Basel

The Knowledge of God and the Service of God according to the Teaching of the Reformation

In his series of twenty lectures, Barth reaffirms the Scots Confession of 1560. He deals with subjects of utmost importance to Christianity: the place of the Old Testament in the Christian Church, the sacraments and their relationship to preaching, the respective claims of the Reformed and Episcopal Systems of Church Government, and the relationship between Church and State. He gives a distinctive answer to the question of what authority the confessions of the Church have today.

Biography

Karl Barth was born on 10 May 1886 in Basel, Switzerland. One of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century, he radically changed Protestant thought, recovering the centrality of the Trinity within Christian dogmatics. After a formative decade as a pastor, Barth was appointed Professor of Reformed Theology at the University of Göttingen in 1921, eventually moving to the University of Münster. In 1930, he became Professor of Theology at the University of Bonn, however, he was forcibly retired due to his opposition of the Nazi party. He returned to Basel, retiring in 1962.

Featured on the cover of Time, Barth’s influence reached beyond the academic realm, and he championed the Confessing Church and oppressed people groups. Important works include Epistle to the Romans (1919), Die Christliche Dogmatik im Entwurf (1927), The Word of God and the Word of Man (1928), Church Dogmatics (1932), The Knowledge of God and the Service of God According to the Reformation (1938), ‘No!’, in Natural Theology (1946), Dogmatics in Outline (1949), The Humanity of God (1961), and Evangelical Theology (1963).

Published/Archival Resources

Published as The Knowledge of God and the Service of God according to the Teaching of the Reformation.