So, You Want To Read Karl Barth?
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.
Perhaps the best way to read the Church Dogmatics is chronologically. Start with I/1 and work your way through to the end. But, this is not how I did it, and I don’t think that it is the best way to do it unless you know that you will read through the whole thing. You don’t want to start, read a couple volumes, and find yourself stranded somewhere in the middle. So, although this is probably the best way to do things, it is not the most efficient. Here is what I recommend.
Sure! Here is a brief run-down on a few of the most important books. They are all must-reads. For more information on Barth studies secondary literature, watch the book reviews on the Center for Barth Studies website.
UPDATE: David Guretzki has written and made available on his blog a 'Primer' for those who are looking to read Barth's CD for the first time.
Update 2.0: Darren Sumner has also written a guide on this subject, as well as a very helpful timeline for Barth. Unfortunately, in the former of these two resources Darren disagrees with me about the value of starting with Barth's Evangelical Theology. I responded to him on that point in my reflections on teaching Barth to undergraduates.
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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 during his 1962 visit to the United States, this volume represents the mature Barth at his most irenic. It is perhaps my favorite of Barth’s works, and I have read it a number of times.
- (2022 update) Karl Barth: Spiritual Writings - Ash Cocksworth and I have put together an edited volume under this title in the Classics of Western Spirituality series. It wasn't our goal at the time, but I believe that we (inadvertently) managed to put together the best introduction to Barth's theology available for folks who are studying theology to go into the ministry. This volume gives you Barth's theology where the theological rubber meets the road of the Christian community's shared life in the world.
- Dogmatics in Outline - Written earlier in Barth’s career, this volume is commentary on the Creed.
Perhaps the best way to read the Church Dogmatics is chronologically. Start with I/1 and work your way through to the end. But, this is not how I did it, and I don’t think that it is the best way to do it unless you know that you will read through the whole thing. You don’t want to start, read a couple volumes, and find yourself stranded somewhere in the middle. So, although this is probably the best way to do things, it is not the most efficient. Here is what I recommend.
- (2022 update) Begin by reading Christine Tietz's succinct and compelling overview of the whole Church Dogmatics in chapter 13 of her Karl Barth: A Life in Conflict.
- Dive into the Church Dogmatics with II/2. It is within this volume that Barth develops his famous (and infamous) reconfiguration of the doctrine of election.
- Next, head on over to volumes IV/1 through IV/3. Church Dogmatics IV is almost a dogmatics unto itself, and this is some good material. Be careful with IV/4, however, as I’m not a big fan and think that it departs in certain ways from many of Barth’s best insights.
- Finally, head back to the other volumes and begin to plug up the gaps. Maybe you will head over to III for the doctrine of creation, to II/1 for a discussion of God’s attributes, or to I/1 for the doctrine of the Trinity. By this point you will know enough of Barth to make your own decisions about these things!
Sure! Here is a brief run-down on a few of the most important books. They are all must-reads. For more information on Barth studies secondary literature, watch the book reviews on the Center for Barth Studies website.
- George Hunsinger, How to Read Karl Barth: The Shape of His Theology - This is the one book that you want to read before jumping into the Church Dogmatics. It will teach you all the important landmarks and pathways.
- Bruce McCormack, Karl Barth’s Critically Realistic Dialectical Theology - This is currently the standard account of Barth’s development, and it won its author the Karl Barth Prize.
- (2022 update) Christine Tietz, Karl Barth: A Life in Conflict - Tietz has done the hard work to finally provide us with a true biography of Barth. It is very well done (and very well translated by Victoria Barnett) and brimming with interesting tidbits and penetrating insight.
- John Webster, Barth - A very good introduction to Barth’s work as a whole, with a nice opening chapter that provides an overview of his life. Webster has written many excellent books on Barth, this is simply the best place to start with him. But, I highly recommend all his other books as well.
- George Hunsinger, Disruptive Grace: Studies in the Theology of Karl Barth - The essays in this volume are good introductions to various aspects and topics in Barth and Christian theology in general.
- John Webster (Ed), Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth - A collection of essays on Barth by many leading Barth interpreters.
- Eberhard Jüngel, God's Being is in Becoming: The Trinitarian Being of God in the Theology of Karl Barth - Jüngel is the most important German Barth scholar, and this is perhaps his best-known work. It is a very difficult volume, but it rewards the careful reader.
- T. F. Torrance, Karl Barth: Biblical and Evangelical Theologian - An overview of Barth’s theology by Barth’s theology by the most important first generation English interpreter of Barth.
- Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Theology of Karl Barth: Exposition and Interpretation - This is one of the first important pieces written about Barth. It is still valuable even though McCormack has called Balthasar’s developmental interpretation seriously into question.
- G. C. Berkouwer, The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Karl Barth: An Introduction and Critical Appraisal - Another old standard, and one with which Barth actually interacted with some care.
UPDATE: David Guretzki has written and made available on his blog a 'Primer' for those who are looking to read Barth's CD for the first time.
Update 2.0: Darren Sumner has also written a guide on this subject, as well as a very helpful timeline for Barth. Unfortunately, in the former of these two resources Darren disagrees with me about the value of starting with Barth's Evangelical Theology. I responded to him on that point in my reflections on teaching Barth to undergraduates.
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Follow @WTravisMcMaken
Comments
For general introductions, I'd also include Eberhard Busch's The Great Passion alongside Webster; it's not as crisp and elegant as Webster, but it's more comprehensive, with lots of profound insights. And for creative readings of Barth, I'd definitely include Robert Jenson's Alpha and Omega alongside Jüngel.
And of course, for primary-source introductions, the Göttingen Dogmatics is a superb and extremely accessible text.
But I reckon if I were to recommend just one introductory book, it would have to be Eberhard Busch's biography: it gives a broad picture of the whole scope of Barth's career, a picture of the multiple political and academic contexts that shaped Barth's work, and plenty of insight into Barth's own colourful personality.
(NB -- On another note, I've just finished Matthias Gockel's new book on Barth and Schleiermacher: a very fine book.)
I seriously considered including Busch's biography. It is once of my favorite Barth studies books, and it is a wealth of information and perspective. But, it doesn't lead outside of itself as ready as the others do (I think). If you want to get to know Barth as a person and in his developmental self-understanding, it is a must read. But if you are trying to get a hard and fast sense of what Barth's theology is on about, I think some of these other volumes are more efficient.
Of course, you are far more qualified than I. :-)
I had read Dogmatics in Outline and Evangelical Theology and Romans and was starting to get interested in tackling CD when this book appeared. This volume made me realize just how important that Barth's theology was--a modern Church Father, not just one theologian among others.
However, partly because I'm just reading Barth out of personal interest (and not as a requirement for any courses or as a part of a reading group), it is taking quite a bit of time (i.e. I've been reading the CD for about a year and I'm only on II.1!).
I'm taking the chronological strategy. I came to Barth via Robert Jenson. I've had Evangeical Theology: An Intorduction and Dogmatics In Outline but perhaps surprisingly found both inaccesable until I had read much of Jenson. Then I launched into CD and now have found ET and DIO quite stimulating writting.
Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad to hear that you are trying to get to know Barth. You ask some really good and really hard questions, questions that I am not prepared to answer. (If any other readers know how to answer this, please feel free to do so.)
Has anyone else worked through this?
I am starting a One Year with Karl Barth on my Blog. It will start in January and will be a "Mondays with Barth" so any prep. work I can do now and suggestions would be great.
Thanks for this post and links!
Against my better judgment, I've chosen CD as my first post-doctoral mountain to climb. I'm going to attempt to read them canonically, hoping to persevere till the end.
Your secondary literature recommendations are helpful.