Swiss Reformed theologian (1886-1968)
God transcends even the undertakings of evangelical theologians.
KARL BARTH
Evangelical Theology: An Introduction
The Truth lies not in the Yes and not in the No, but in the knowledge and the beginning from which the Yes and the No arise.
KARL BARTH
The Word of God and the Word of Man
At bottom, knowledge of God in faith is always this indirect knowledge of God, knowledge of God in His works, and in these particular works in the determining and using of certain creaturely realities to bear witness to the divine objectivity. What distinguishes faith from unbelief, erroneous faith and superstition is that it is content with this indirect knowledge of God.
KARL BARTH
Church Dogmatics
Jesus is the movement for social justice, and the movement for social justice is Jesus in the present.
KARL BARTH
lecture delivered at Safenwil, "Jesus Christus und die soziale Bewegung", December 17, 1911
The name Jesus defines an historical occurence and marks the point where the unknown world cuts the known world ... as Christ Jesus is the plane which lies beyond our comprehension. The plane which is known to us, He intersects vertically, from above. Within history Jesus as the Christ can be understood only as Problem or Myth. As the Christ He brings the world of the Father. But we who stand in this concrete world know nothing, and are incapable of knowing anything, of that other world. The Resurrection from the dead is, however, the transformation: the establishing or declaration of that point from above, and the corresponding discerning of it below.
KARL BARTH
The Epistle to the Romans
The power of God can be detected neither in the world of nature nor in the souls of men. It must not be confounded with any high, exalted, force, known or knowable.
KARL BARTH
The Epistle to the Romans
There is no way from us to God -- not even via negativa not even a via dialectica nor paradoxa. The god who stood at the end of some human way -- even of this way -- would not be God.
KARL BARTH
The Word of God and the Word of Man
We must be clear that whatever we say of God in such human concepts can never be more than an indication of Him; no such concept can really conceive the nature of God. God is inconceivable.
KARL BARTH
Dogmatics in Outline
Grace must find expression in life, otherwise it is not grace.
KARL BARTH
attributed, An Introduction to Protestant Theology
The Resurrection is the emergence of the necessity of giving glory to God: the reckoning with what is unknown and unobservable in Jesus, the recognition of Him as Paradox, Victor and Primal History.
KARL BARTH
The Epistle to the Romans
In the Church of Jesus Christ there can and should be no non-theologians.
KARL BARTH
Letters: 1961-1968
Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life.
KARL BARTH
The Word of God and the Word of Man
Faith is never identical with "piety" even if it were the purest and finest.
KARL BARTH
attributed, The Beginnings of Dialectic Theology
Prayer without study would be empty. Study without prayer would be blind.
KARL BARTH
Evangelical Theology: An Introduction
The Gospel is not a religious message to inform mankind of their divinity or to tell them how they may become divine. The Gospel proclaims a God utterly distinct from men.
KARL BARTH
The Epistle to the Romans
Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.
KARL BARTH
attributed, Finding the Magnificent in Lower Mundane
The best theology would need no advocates; it would prove itself.
KARL BARTH
attributed, Quotations from the Wayside
Faith in God's revelation has nothing to do with an ideology which glorifies the status quo.
KARL BARTH
attributed, An Almanac of the Christian Church
Since Jesus Christ is a servant, looking to Him cannot mean looking away from the world, from men, from life, or, as is often said, from oneself. It cannot mean looking away into some distance or height. To look to Him is to see Him at the very centre, to see Him and the history which, accomplished in Him, heals everything and all things, as the mystery, reality, origin and goal of the whole world, all men, all life. To look to Him is to cleave to Him as the One who bears away the sin of the world. It is to be bound and liberated, claimed, consoled, cheered and ruled by Him.
KARL BARTH
Church Dogmatics
The goal of human life is not death but resurrection.
KARL BARTH
"Witness to an Ancient Truth", TIME Magazine, April 20, 1962