Karl Barth

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. Karl Barth (1886 - 1968) rejected the liberal theology of his time which, he argued, used the Bible and religion to help humans understand themselves rather than prepare them to open themselves to divine revelation. Barth’s aim was to put God and especially Christ at the centre of Christianity. He was alarmed by what he saw as the dangers in a natural theology where God might be found in a rainbow or an opera by Wagner; for if you were open to finding God in German culture, you could also be open to accepting Hitler as God’s gift as many Germans did. Barth openly refused to accept Hitler’s role in the Church in the 1930s on these theological grounds as well as moral, for which he was forced to leave Germany for his native Switzerland.

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Guests

• Stephen Plant 4 episodes
  Dean and Runcie Fellow at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge
• Christiane Tietz No other episodes
  Professor for Systematic Theology at the University of Zurich
• Tom Greggs 2 episodes
  Marischal Professor of Divinity at the University of Aberdeen

Reading list

• God Here and Now
  Karl Barth (Routledge, 2003) Google Books →
• Dogmatics in Outline
  Karl Barth (trans. G. T. Thomson) (SCM Press, 1966) Google Books →
• Karl Barth: His Life from Letters and Autobiographical Texts
  Eberhard Busch (trans. John Bowden) (Grand Rapids, 1994) Google Books →
• How to Read Karl Barth: The Shape of His Theology
  George Hunsinger (Oxford University Press, 1993) Google Books →
• Karl Barth: Theologian of Christian Witness
  Joseph L. Mangina (Routledge, 2004) Google Books →
• Karl Barth: A Guide for the Perplexed
  Paul T. Nimmo (Bloomsbury, 2013) Google Books →
• Karl Barth: A Life in Conflict
  Christiane Tietz (Oxford University Press, 2021) Google Books →
• Karl Barth: Outstanding Christian Thinkers
  John Webster (Continuum, 2004) Google Books →

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Programme ID: m001t2zf

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001t2zf

Auto-category: 230 (Christian theology)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello. Karl Barth, 1886-1968, was one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century, some say for the past few hundred years, putting God, and especially Christ, at the centre of Christianity.