Welcome to the 2nd Annual Karl Barth Blog Conference (2008)

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Greetings, and welcome to the second annual Karl Barth Blog conference. Some of you are here because you enjoyed last year’s conference and wanted a second dose. Some of you are here because you saw announcement posts at various blogs and thought you would see what all the excitement was about. Some of you have been lead here by more or less relevant blog searches. And some of you are here because your favorite theo-blogger is among the contributing authors. But, while people may arrive here from many destinations, those that stay to read in depth and (hopefully) comment will do so because they – like our authors – believe that there is something significant to be gleaned from the work of Karl Barth, and aren’t afraid of doing a little hard work in attempting to find it.

Whereas last year’s Karl Barth Blog conference was comprised of various authors treating various chapters of Barth’s Protestant Theology in the 19th Century, this year we will think about Barth through the mediating thought of his most distinguished German interpreter, Eberhard Jüngel, and his standard work in the field entitled, God’s Being Is in Becoming: The Trinitarian Being of God in the Theology of Karl Barth. I have offered my own meager reflections on this text previously, and I won’t bore you by rehashing them here because I’m sure that I would need to modify them, and that would take more work than I have time for presently. Besides, we have a number of other contributing authors ready to provide a far more in-depth look.

Here is some information on the authors contributing plenary posts and official responses for the 2008 Karl Barth Blog conference.

Contributing Authors
  • Sergi Avilés holds an Ecclesiastic Doctorate in Philosophy from Ramon Llull University, lives in Barcelona, married, has a cute little son and works as researcher in chief in philosophy and theology at Centre Borja

  • Matthew J. Aragon Bruce is a PhD student at Princeton Theological Seminary and a member of the PC(USA).

  • David W. Congdon just finished his MDiv and will begin a PhD program in Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. He lives in Princeton, NJ, with his wife, Amy. In addition to working at the Center for Barth Studies, he plans on flexing his academic muscles by working at Barnes & Noble this summer.

  • Halden Doerge is a sporadic MDiv student at Multnomah University and an editor with Wipf and Stock Publishers. He lives in Portland, Oregon where he is a member of Church of the Servant King, an intentional community where he preaches and teaches regularly. He is also hailed by many friends as a barbeque genius.

  • Jason T. Ingalls holds a MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary (2006), lives in Nashville, TN, and ministers with graduate students at Vanderbilt University.

  • Scott Jackson holds a PhD in theology from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He lives in western Massachusetts, where he volunteers with the Jakob's Well Ecumenical Christian Community.

  • Jon Mackenzie has just received his undergraduate degree in Theology from the University of St Andrews. He is (suprisingly) unmarried and (unsuprisingly) has no children, no pets and (since receiving a degree in theology) no future. He has achieved little in his 22 years and will next year be entering into a Masters programme at an esteemed English university where no doubt his lack of achievement will be daily contrasted against those of his contemporaries.

  • Adam McInturf is a recent graduate of Multnomah University with a background in theology and New Testament Greek. He is actively involved in his local church, Vibrant Covenant Church. He continues to live and work in the northeast Portland neighborhood where he grew up and is beginning an MDiv at Multnomah University this fall.

  • Chris TerryNelson is starting his third year of his Master of Divinity degree at Princeton Theological Seminary. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy at University of Massachusetts in Amherst in 2005. He is married to Anneli TerryNelson and a new father to Nora, who was born on June 4th. He is an Inquirer with the PCUSA denomination, and hopes to be ordained for ministry in New Church Development.

  • Shane Wilkins is a Ph.D. student in the Philosophy Department at Fordham University in New York City.
Plenary posts and responses will appear every morning (EST) for the next five days. An introductory post by Jon Mackenzie on philosophy and theology in Eberhard Jüngel's work will appear a little later today. An index will be posted upon the conference's conclusion. Also, if you have suggestions for how I might organize next year’s conference, feel free to e-mail me or leave your suggestion in a comment.

Enjoy!

Comments

Luke said…
It would be interesting and usefull, that at the end of the conference, you sum up the relevant conclusions. No need to be something too long. Only a few easy points where all participants agree.
June 16, 2008 6:42 AM
Darren said…
Thanks, Travis! Looking forward to the contributions.
June 18, 2008 3:18 PM
Unknown said…
How cool.

In January I will begin a one year long survey of Church Dogmatics in a "Monday's with Barth" By the time the 3rd annual Blog Conference comes around I would probably have enough reading in to make a contribution. I don't know what qualifications you are looking for in participants, but if you are open to new writers, let me know.
September 23, 2008 1:50 AM
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