I find reviewing Karl Barth to be similar to attempting to recount a vivid dream. What I experienced was thought provoking but now has become blurry and my attempts to recount it make it blurrier still. Barth’s writing is less aimed at clarity than at provoking thought. It’s as if he wants to be hard to pin down. I wish I would have read this book with a notebook at my side and writen what was provoked within me as I read.
There is no doubt that Barth is a genius. I also have no doubt that Barth wrote and spoke in riddles and, if asked, would only provide more of the same. His neo-orthodoxy, while a helpful corrective to the liberalism of his day, carries its own troubles masked by it dialectics. The edition which I bought contains a number of typos including “Cod” for “God” on one page. Barth is such an impenetrable author that upon reading that I wondered, “what is he doing now?'“ before recognizing the typographical error.
There is still much to learn from Barth. This book has to do with the reality of God, the world of the Bible, and with how the power of those realities should overpower each of us. It has to do with the God who is at work in the church, our inability to manipulate Him, and our utter need for Him to reveal Himself.. Perhaps this following quotation on Reformed theology will illustrate, “It was just this submitting of doctrine not to the authority of logic but to the authority of God that was the secret of the fathers, of their Reformation, and of the churches they founded. The essential characteristic of their genius was not any special insight or type of godliness but their clear understanding of the basis of things: they know that that basis was God and God alone. In other words, they had the courage to allow so accidental, contingent, and human a thing as the Bible to become a serious witness of the revelation of God…”
One can tell that these works were effected by Barth’s time in the parish. He has a handle on the mysteries, majesty, and hiddenness of pastoral labors. This is especially evident in “The Word of God and the Task of the Ministry.” This chapter has some interesting parallels with the intentions of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. Pastors are commanded by God to do what we cannot do without God’s help and for which there is no “market demand.” We are susceptible to bowing to what the marketplace wants us to be and do and so we must continually remind ourselves of our call from God.
If I planned to read more Barth, I would be sure to pick up a Barth Reader to help explain the ins and outs of the man’s times and intentions. He has much to say that’s worth hearing. Knowing what to heed and what to avoid is the trick.