Barth's "Göttingen Dogmatics" - §4: Man and His Question
The androcentric nature of Barth's language notwithstanding, in this section he addresses the human condition and the "contradiction" at the heart of our existence, as well as reflecting on how it can be that God encounters us in the midst of that contradiction as "the answer to our question" ( Diktatsatz ). Karl Barth, The Göttingen Dogmatics: Instruction in the Christian Religion This is part 5 of a multi-part series, and you can find the series index here . I begin the audio recordings by reading Barth’s Diktatsatz , so I will begin reproducing that here as well. The bold is mine and indicates where I find emphasis: God's revelation, which is the basis of Christian preaching, is the answer to our question how we can overcome the contradiction in our existence, which we have to view not as our destiny but as our responsible act , and which we know that we cannot overcome. But we know ourselves in this regard only as God makes himself known to