Saying good bye to Karl Barth!

 

 Clearing out Stuff!

No-one should complain about a pastor continuing to blog during his sabbatical! I can't help writing, sometimes it helps me clear my own head, other times I hope it helps others.

One of my tasks during Sabbatical is to clear up my study (well over 2000 books, I'm afraid) - it's not been done for 14 years! 

And part of the "clearing process" is to get rid of those books for which I have no real purpose any longer....

...which brings me to Church Dogmatics by Karl Barth - 14 volumes I bought in 2013.

Karl who?

Karl Barth (1886-1968) began life as a Swiss pastor but after around ten years became a professor. 

I have heard it said that he was the greatest theologian of the 20th Century, but  my guess is that another "theologian" made that accolade up.

I was not surprised when someone on FaceBook who saw me selling up Barth asked me "Who is Barth?" To the vast majority of ordinary Christians around the world he is completely unknown.

I read the first half of Volume 1, back in 2013, and gave up. Why?

First because it was frankly boring. This was no Calvin or Spurgeon or Bullinger, no, these were the dry and arid writings of a scholar.

Secondly it was filled with human reason, one logical line after another. For good reason we should mistrust human logic. For the ways of the Lord are far beyond our ways.

Thirdly, and most significantly, there were few references to Scripture. I have a rather big problem with that one. (Karl Barth is a neo-liberal which means he does not have the high view of Scripture which he should).

So without a qualm, regret, misgiving or second thought, I'm selling off Mr Barth.

A symbolic "throwing out"

But getting shot of "Church Dogmatics" (the ordinary man in the street might wonder if the books are about the experience of church vet with a title like that) is also a symbolic act.

I'd love to read everything Barth wrote while he was a church pastor, because that is an office recognised by the New Testament. But the moment he became a university professor, he entered an "office" that has no place in the New Testament church, and zero relevance to the church (And that's where he wrote Church Dogmatics).

The church has no duty to listen to "professors" or to acknowledge them or bow to them for the New Testament knows of pastors and deacons and evangelists, but no professors.

The only teachers we should listen to are those who are at the coal face of church life and spiritual warfare (pastors, evangelists, deacons...): the Pauls, the Calvins, the Grebels, the Sattlers, the Spurgeons, and the Kellers. 

The moment a teacher moves out of the real world and into the academy he has lost all authority in the church and we should be wary of what he says. For sure we are not bound to pay him any attention.

So ditching Barth has been therapeutic for me. 

The older I grow, the more I limit my Christian reading to those who actually serve(d) in the kingdom of God on the ground. The less I read academics (unless it is to know what not to believe, or how not to write or preach - which is a valuable excercise sometimes).

What the church needs is not more men of letters it needs more men and women of faith and couarge who will go out into the world and make a difference for the kingdom of God. Not ivory palace thinkers but fishermen and fisherwomen of fearless holy faith.

My guess is that in 50 years no-one will have heard of Barth except the poor souls who are forced to read his boring stuff in dry and dusty academies. But we will be reading Spurgeon and all the other real human writers far beyond this century.

So saying goodbye to Barth is a sign post on the spiritual journey I am making...