Engaging with Barth

Book excerpt: This volume aims to engage with Karl Barth's questions and answers on a range of topics vital to Christian theology. Specifically, whether by going beyond, behind or against Barth, the chapters presented here attempt to provide a contemporary orientation to certain aspects of Barth's theology that can be deemed problematic from the standpoint of historic, confessional evangelicalism. Why engage with Barth? And why the particular approach of this book? The answer to the first question is that Barth's significance as arguably the greatest theologian of the twentieth century - increasingly being recognized in an ongoing renaissance of international Barth scholarship - means that Barth provides both opportunity and challenge for evangelicalism. There is renewed interest in the question of how evangelicals should or should not appropriate Barth. Given the sheer diversity within worldwide evangelicalism, a consensus is unlikely to be reached. Be that as it may, in a range of areas, evangelical theology stands to gain from careful and critical listening to what Barth has to say.