This book is an exposition and condensation of the nearly 10,000 pages of Barth's Church Dogmatics, of which Bromiley was one of the major translators. Bromiley's book is a fine resource not only for the obvious reason that it provides swift access to theology of the massive tomes of Barth's Dogmatics, but also for Bromiley's insightful and lucid explications and summaries. Being structured after the Dogmatics, it is not only a typical introduction, but it gives an idea of the Dogmatics in nuce. It is a highly recommended stepping stone to Barth's magisterial work.

Clifford Greeen's introductory essay and comments on the selected texts set Barth in his historical context, chart the development of his thought, and indicate the significance of his theology in the development of Christian theology as a whole. Extensive coverage is also given to Barth's public theology, including such topics as civil community, communism, and nuclear war. It is an excellent introduction to a theologian whose vision is arguably broader than anyone since Aquinas.

"John Hart's careful unraveling of the relationship between Barth and Brunner performs two invaluable scholarly functions. It explores the reasons for their break in careful detail, and, while doing so, gives real insight into the deep theological drives and concerns of two apparently similar, but actually very different, thinkers." (Colin Gunton, King's College, London)

"Barth's 'No!' to Emil Brunner is well known, but the roots of it are little understood. It emerged from a relationship of nearly twenty years, on Brunner's side anxious for affirmation, on Barth's more and more wary. Brunner's enthusiasm for Moral Rearmament proved the last straw. Mining hitherto unpublished archive material, John Hart provides a fascinating analysis of the relationship of these two theologians, from the war years to their final break in 1934. His study throws light on the theology of the whole period." (Timothy Gorringe, University of Exeter)

John McTavish and Harold Wells have performed a great service in collecting some of the most exciting "small print" exgetical passages from Karl Barth's "Church Dogmatics" into this compact, paperback volume. Barth's insights into Scripture are still fresh and clear, illuminating the thread running throughout the Bible -- Jesus Christ, God's Word incarnate -- in stunning ways. Unfortunately, the volume suffers from a lack of any indices (such as the topical and biblical indices found in the "Domgatics" themselves). The volume's title is also misleading; preachers expecting to find a series of passages keyed to the Revised Common Lectionary will be disappointed. The book is only very loosely arranged according to the seasons of the ecclesiastical calendar. Barth's work is strong, but the editors' oversights limits the practical usefulness of this volume.

Wisnefske makes an important contribution to not only Kant and Barth's reasons for their antipathy to natural theology but vitally to the future of natural theology in Protestant theology. Particularly interesting is the section on Barth's later consideration of natural theology. The book is presented in a clear and scholarly way. I would recommend this book to anyone who is fascinated in Barth's theological development.

Karl Barth, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Eerdmans, 1956)

Karl Barth, never the world's most orthodox theologian, released a small number of monographs on Mozart during his life, culminating in a keynote speech at a Salzburg festival honoring Mozart's 200th birthday. Eerdmans reprinted the lot of them not long after the festival. So what is it, exactly, that a theologian, no matter how unorthodox, would have to say about one of history's greatest iconoclasts?

Barth makes the argument that Mozart was quite the opposite, the living voice of God on Earth. He attempts to understand the glory of Mozart's music (and in the process refute various tunnel-vision styles of Mozart scholarship popular at the time) in light of Mozart's single-minded, exclusive dedication to music (pointing out a number of times that Mozart was almost impervious to other forms of media, as well as current events). Not an original response to Mozart, but one that, perhaps, had never previously been codified-Barth gives us an understanding of Mozart from the gut, running it through the brain in order to translate it into words.

Barth is always a good writer. Where many of his books in English fail is in the translation; German can be a nasty language viewed from the perspective of English speakers. The translation here is hands down the best I've ever seen in a piece of Barth's work. The book is easy and accessible. Too bad the same translator didn't work on the Dogmatics.

Wonderful stuff, highly recommended not only for Mozart fans but also for those who want to gain an understanding into why Mozart's music is so revered. ****

Johnson challenges the static 'neo-orthodox' image of Karl Barth, bringing him into conversation with postmodern thought, especially that of Jacques Derrida. He picks up on the Barth's idea of God as mystery and of Barth's image of the empty space of the wheel at which the spokes of theology's questions converge and finds in these a point of contact for dialogue with poststructural thought. Weighed against Barth's Christocentrism (the center of the wheel) is Barth's theocentrism (God as mystery); as Barth had said, God is veiled in His revelation and vice versa. Johnson takes a refreshing and promising approach which is a fine contribution to a larger discussion taking place between Barth's theology and postmodern thought.

One should not take Barth's interpretation of Schleiermacher as the Gospel truth; there are some significant errors in his reading of Schleiermacher's theology that cloud Barth's presentation here. Those who have learned about Schleiermacher only through a Barthian lense would be well advised to read Schleiermacher himself. I find that, in this book, Barth fundamentally misunderstands Schleiermacher, particularly in terms of christological issues and in terms of Schleiermacher's doctrine of God.

Disappointing book. This work was originally written as a doctoral dissertation, and as such, does not translate well in a book form. Poor editorial advice, one assumes, led the author to cite several passages of the Bible indicating only the book, chapter and verse - as in Colossians 1:15, for example - assuming that they are either known by memory or making the reader to look them up. Citations in both Greek and Latin are, hard to believe, not accompanied by English translations, either. The "target" readers seem to be the members of the doctoral examining panel - nothing less.

This is unfortunate, as the subject of the book is an interesting one: the methodology that Karl Barth uses for the interpretation of predestinarian biblical texts. The author contends that Barth uses a novel approach, based on his reading of Ephesians 1:4 "For he choses us 'by him' before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight". Barth uses "b! y him" instead of "in him", affirming that Christ was in human form, as Jesus, with God even before the creation of the world, and is "both the electing God and the elected human" (pg.21).

Furthermore, juxtaposing a series of widely separated passages, and analysing them in tandem, Barth confines himself by design to the Bible, and only to the Bible, as the souce of his "predestination of one", universalist doctrine.

In summary, interesting subject, poorly presented - not a recommended purchase.