Hiatus

By -
I must offer you all a sincere apology, as this morning I had to make a decision that I wish could have been avoided. Because all of my time has been occupied either with utterly insignificant, banal, menial, and otherwise unworthy assignments imposed upon me by professors and classes from which I have learned absolutely nothing, or it has been occupied by doing research in German theology (that is, theology of a German origin AND as extant only in the German language), I have been unable to keep on top of my self-imposed blogging out-put. Never fear! My current plan is to be back in two weeks or so, running full bore.

Until then, I thought that I would do a copy-cat post. My friend and colleague David over at Fire & Rose recently posted a picture of the book shelf above his computer. I am not blessed with a shelf above my computer, but I do have one in the hallway upon which I keep my “all-stars,” as it were. In other words, this shelf contains the bulk of my research interests, and I thought that I would share it with you. If you cannot quite make out the titles, here they are moving from left to right:
  1. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, (Battles, McNeil)
  2. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1536. (Battles)
  3. John Calvin, Theological Treatises (LCC), (JKS Reid)
  4. John Calvin, Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, (JKS Reid)
  5. Karl Barth, Theology of John Calvin
  6. Karl Barth, Theology of the Reformed Confessions
  7. Karl Barth, The Teaching of the Church Regarding Baptism
  8. Karl Barth, CD 1.2
  9. Karl Barth, CD 2.1
  10. Karl Barth, CD 2.2
  11. Karl Barth, CD 3.2
  12. Karl Barth, CD 3.3
  13. Karl Barth, CD 3.4, (Note: CBD sent this to me without a dust jacket! They are supposed to be sending one to me, but it’s been a while and I still have not received it…)
  14. Karl Barth, CD 4.1
  15. Karl Barth, CD 4.4
  16. Karl Barth, Letters: 1961-68
  17. Karl Barth, Evangelical Theology: An Introduction, (Note: I just want to say that I think that this volume is the best place to start reading Barth)
  18. Karl Barth, The Christian Life, (Note: For any of you who do not know, this volume is comprised of lecture transcripts from the material surrounding the baptism fragment [CD 4.4]. However, it was not revised by Barth, so while it is valuable, it is only “on the way.”)
  19. T.F. Torrance, The Christian Doctrine of God
  20. T.F. Torrance, The Mediation of Christ
  21. T.F. Torrance, Space, Time and Incarnation
  22. T.F. Torrance, Space, Time and Resurrection
  23. T.F. Torrance, Theology in Reconciliation
  24. T.F. Torrance, Theology in Reconstruction
  25. T.F. Torrance, The Trinitarian Faith

Comments

Chris TerryNelson said…
Not having a shelf of such weight above your computer means you're less likely to be pulverized by Barth during an earthquake.
October 25, 2006 7:57 AM
Post a Comment

Popular Posts

So You Want to Read….Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

By -
Image
"I fear that Christians who stand with only one leg upon earth also stand with only one leg in heaven." "The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people, from everyday Christian life in community…may actually mean the exclusion of Christ; for in the poor sister or brother, Christ is knocking at the door." "Since ethical thinking in terms of realms is overcome by faith in the revelation of the ultimate reality in Jesus Christ . . . there is no real Christian existence outside the reality of the world." "People who reject their bodies reject their existence before God the Creator." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer Prelude Andreas Steinhoff [Attribution], via Wikimedia Commons I envisioned having a lot of time for blogging this summer, but that simply has not been the case - the last month has been a crazy one, to say the least. For two weeks, I was working at a theology summer camp of sorts, the Duke Youth Academy, and s...
Keep reading

So, You Want To Read Karl Barth?

By -
Image
Every now and then I am asked for advice about studying Karl Barth. So, I thought that I would share some of my standard advice here. But, before I do that, let me just say that I am by no means a Barth expert as compared to the people whose books I will mention below. I would be thrilled to find myself in their league one day, but as of yet that remains a distant dream. Still, I have been reading Barth for long enough, and under the supervision of a number of the scholars that I will mention below, that I think I can provide a decent orientation. I have never read Karl Barth before. Which of his books should I read first? Barth’s most famous work is the monumental 13-volume Church Dogmatics . Reading the CD with understanding is not an easy thing, so you definitely do NOT want to start here. Luckily, there are two smaller works by Barth that serve as helpful introductions to his work. Evangelical Theology: An Introduction - Based on the lectures that Barth delivered duri...
Keep reading

Karl Barth on Hell, the Devil, Demons, and Universalism – A Florilegium

By -
Image
You know, all the most interesting topics. Although Barth often confessed that he didn’t find these questions particularly interesting. At best they might draw sideways glances, as it were, as one travels the theological road. But I found a number of places in the records of Barth’s later conversations that I thought folks might find interesting, so I’ve collected them here. And if you aren’t familiar with the term “florilegium,” here you go ! All these texts are from the first volume of Barth in Conversation , with pages numbers given in parentheses along the way. As usual, italics are in the text and bold is mine. Hell “Now we come to hell. You shouldn’t laugh! There is nothing to laugh at! What does hell mean? I think hell means to be in the place where you are once fore all damned and lost without ceasing to exist, without losing the image of God, being what you are but being damned and lost, separated from God, whose creature you are, separated also from your neighbor, from...
Keep reading

George Hunsinger’s gloss of the Christ Hymn in Philippians 2

By -
Image
I’ve been reading George Hunsinger’s (my doktorvater , for anyone who might be new around here) entry in the Brazos Theoloical Commentary on the Bible series on Philippians. Anyone who has studied with George will find this book to be a compendium and application of many of his most characteristic and beloved analytical tools and patterns, and I’ve been enjoying it immensely. But one of the things that really stood out to me was how he glossed the so-called “Christ hymn” of Philippians 2. George Hunsinger, Philippians , Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids: BrazosPress, 2020). The gloss that Hunsinger provides is not a historical-critical interpretation. Rather, it is an ecclesial, ecumenical, and theological interpretation that attempts to fill in the blanks for how to understand this proto-liturgical formulation in light of the later formulations of the ecumenical creeds. In order to achieve this gloss, Hunsinger engages in “ecclesial hermeneutics” and makes “...
Keep reading

2010 KBBC: Week 3, Day 1

By -
On the Monstrosity of Christ : Karl Barth in Conversation with Slavoj Žižek & John Milbank By Paul Dafydd Jones For a while, I hoped to frame this conversation in terms of a dramatic interchange – something along the lines of “A Slovenian philosopher, a British theologian, and a Swiss dogmatician walk into a bar…” Alongside an eye-wateringly hip assemblage of cinematic references, literary allusions, and comedic scenes – my early favorites being when Barth imagines a young adult novel, entitled Are you there God? It’s me, Žižek , and when Milbank waxes poetic about the Twilight movies – I wanted to engage some topics that would likely receive attention, were the authors to meet for drinks. Primarily, I envisioned an intense discussion of the logos asarkos and the logos ensarkos , with Milbank talking up the former category, Barth emphasizing the latter, and Žižek asking whether recent debates are but symptoms of secret puzzle, embedded in the Church Dogmatics – a puzzle that...
Keep reading