"Karl Barth: Spiritual Writings" now available!

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I'm sorry to say, gentle readers, that I have been a bit remiss of late in not making this announcement sooner. The word has gone out via some other avenues before now, but that is no excuse. Regardless, it gives me distinct pleasure to share with you that a volume that Ash Cocksworth and I have been working on for some time is now available:

Karl Barth: Spiritual Writings, Classics of Western Spirituality (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2022).

As I noted, Ash and I have been at work on this volume for some time. A quick search of my email records traces our collaboration back to April of 2017, but - honestly - I think we started up before that. The manuscript has been done for a little while as well, and we had to wait out some production delays. But now the finished product is in our hands. And it can be in your hands as well, should you wish. Or in your e-bok reader of choice. Entirely up to you.

The volume contains a foreword by George Hunsinger, a ~40-page introductory essay by Ash and me, and quite a number of selections from Barth's texts -- each with short introductory remarks -- organized in four sections:
  • Part 1: Dogamtics
  • Part 2: The Christian Community
  • Part 3: The Christian Life
  • Part 4: Politics
The more I think about this project, the more I become convinced (or, the more I successfully convince myself?) that it may be an especially good way to introduce ministerial candidates to Barth and his theology. But I'm going to save further reflections on that score for some other upcoming venues, I think.

But stay tuned because we're planning on recording some reflections on this volume. If you have a theologically engaged podcast and you think it might be fun to have Ash and me on to talk about this project, we'd be happy to make that happen. And the same goes if you're a minister and you think that your congregation, adult spiritual formation class, or what have you would be edified by discusion of Barth's spirituality. Please don't hesitate to reach out.

In any case, this was a fun project to work on and I hope that you will track down a copy one way or another and take a look. Why not ask your local theological library to acquire it?

Update: click here to listen to a podcast where Ash and I talk about the book!

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