# Rare Karl Barth English Audio



## N. Eshelman (May 1, 2008)

As I have mentioned, I have been reading and studying some Karl Barth. He is very bright, but I cannot buy his version of the Reformed faith... too old school, I guess. 

Any way, here is a rare lecture that Karl Barth gave on the character of theology. You may have read this in his Evangelical Theology.


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## N. Eshelman (May 1, 2008)

Neo. Un. You choose! 

I am reading him for a Modern Church History course. He is neo and un; but nevertheless, he may be the most important Christian thinker of the 20th c. 

Sad, huh?


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## jwithnell (May 1, 2008)

I'd be interested in knowing how you are defining "greatness" in 20th century Christian thinking.


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## N. Eshelman (May 1, 2008)

Re: greatness:

May I answer with a question (in Barthian Dialectic style)?

What other theologian of the 20th c. has been so influential to the whole of evangelical theology (for good or for ill)? I cannot think of another theologian that is as important based on the amount of impact that Barth has in the church. Many are Barthian witout even knowing so. 

Great: Oxford English Dictionary: III.c: Important among all others of the kind; pre-eminent in importance; chief, main.


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## jwithnell (May 1, 2008)

I wonder who people will be talking about 200 years from now? I suspect Cornelius Van Til would be among them.


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## N. Eshelman (May 1, 2008)

Re: Van Til: I hope you are right!


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## brandonadams (May 1, 2008)

Gordon Clark, by God's grace


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## DMcFadden (May 1, 2008)

Actually, a fairly wide spectrum of scholars from left to right will admit that in the field of systematic/dogmatic theology, Barth was the most important of the 800 lb. gorillas in the 20th century theological kitchen. You don't have to agree with a single thing he taught to admit that this is his "reputation."

Not too many 9,000 page sys theos in the 20th century.

He is not my idea of a Reformed theologian. His notion that Jesus is the elect man and simultaneously the reprobate man, his rejection of several seminal points of Calvinism, his seeming inability to utter a single declarative sentence without resorting to "dialectical" doubletalk, his decades long affair with his live-in mistress under his wife's nose, his near universalism, his rejection of inerrancy, etc. etc. etc.


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## jwithnell (May 1, 2008)

I perhaps have an emotional response against Barth -- he was among those I read as a teenager when I was trying to make some sense of the world.


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## N. Eshelman (May 1, 2008)

jwithnell said:


> I perhaps have an emotional response against Barth -- he was among those I read as a teenager when I was trying to make some sense of the world.



Wow. Trying to read Barth to make sense of the world must have been pretty tough. 

Glad you are still alive to tell us about it!


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## Grymir (May 2, 2008)

DMcFadden said:


> .
> 
> He is not my idea of a Reformed theologian. His notion that Jesus is the elect man and simultaneously the reprobate man, his rejection of several seminal points of Calvinism, his seeming inability to utter a single declarative sentence without resorting to "dialectical" doubletalk, his decades long affair with his live-in mistress under his wife's nose, his near universalism, his rejection of inerrancy, etc. etc. etc.




Nice quote! Of course we should ask the proverbial question - "If a Bible is in the woods, and there's nobody around to read it, is it the Word of God?" (People who read Barth will understand!) I did download the lecture to listen to however, maybe it will enlighten me and I'll become a quasi-liberal. 

Lookin forward to the listen. Thanks! - Grymir


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## Reformed Covenanter (May 2, 2008)

Timothy

Is that Karl Barth in your Avatar?


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (May 2, 2008)

Yes it looks so. His son Markus taught at my fine institution for a good long while.


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## Sydnorphyn (May 2, 2008)

is there more, this stuff is great.


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## Reformed Covenanter (May 2, 2008)

nleshelman said:


> As I have mentioned, I have been reading and studying some Karl Barth. He is very bright, but I cannot buy his version of the Reformed faith... too old school, I guess.
> 
> Any way, here is a rare lecture that Karl Barth gave on the character of theology. You may have read this in his Evangelical Theology.



Thanks, but no thanks. I have better things to do with my time: like watching paint dry.


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