Ethics
Overview
Originally published in German in an edition edited by Dietrich Braun, Karl Barth’s Ethics is at last available in English. This volume, containing lectures given as courses at the University at Munster in 1928 and 1929, represents Barth’s first systematic attempt at a theological account of Christian ethics.
Although composed over 50 years ago, just prior to Barth’s 30-year devotion to Church Dogmatics, many of its themes, problems, and conclusions are astonishingly relevant today (his critique of competitiveness and of technology, for example). While this work is concerned with the foundations of ethics, it also reveals Barth’s highly practical interest in ethics and his special concern to avoid legalism and yet to maintain a structured divine command.
Barth’s ethics are arranged on a Trinitarian basis, dealing in succession with the command of God the Creator (life), the command of God the Reconciler (law), and the command of God the Redeemer (promise).
Get Barth's Church Dogmatics, this title, and more with the Karl Barth Collection (49 vols.).
Key Features
- Featues a key title from Karl Barth
- Examines an important topic from a Reformed twentieth-century perspective
- Provides biblical exegesis combined with deep concern for theological orthodoxy'
Top Highlights
“As we will, we are. What we do, we are. Man does not exist and also act. He exists as he acts. His action, his stepping forth or appearance (existere), is his existence.” (Pages 16–17)
“ever erring and fallible voice of our own heart which is constantly resisted and refuted?” (Page 476)
About Karl Barth
Karl Barth (1886–1968), a Swiss Protestant theologian and pastor, was one of the leading thinkers of twentieth-century theology, described by Pope Pius XII as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas. He helped to found the Confessing Church and his thinking formed the theological framework for the Barmen Declaration. He taught in Germany, where he opposed the Nazi regime. In 1935, when he refused to take the oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler, he was retired from his position at the University of Bonn and deported to Switzerland. There he continued to write and develop his theology.
Barth’s work and influence resulted in the formation of what came to be known as neo-orthodoxy. For Barth, modern theology, with its assent to science, immanent philosophy, and general culture and with its stress on feeling, was marked by indifference to the word of God and to the revelation of God in Jesus, which he thought should be the central concern of theology.
Sample Pages from the Print Edition
Reviews
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Joshua Steele
12/22/2022
MIU KA FAI
1/30/2019
