Karl Barth

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Lore & Background

Karl Barth was born on 10 May 1886 in Basel, Switzerland, to Johann Friedrich 'Fritz' Barth, a theology professor and pastor, and Anna Katharina Sartorius. He had two younger brothers, Peter and Heinrich, and two sisters, Katharina and Gertrude. Barth began his student career at the University of Bern, then transferred to the University of Berlin to study under Adolf von Harnack, later transferring briefly to the University of Tübingen before finally settling at the University of Marburg to study under Wilhelm Herrmann. From 1911 to 1921 he served as a Reformed pastor in the village of Safenwil. In 1913 he married Nelly Hoffmann, a violinist; they had a daughter and four sons, two of whom became Biblical scholars and theologians: Markus (6 October 1915 – 1 July 1994) and Christoph Barth (29 September 1917 – 21 August 1986). While pastor at Safenwil he was known as the 'Red Pastor from Safenwil' for his advocacy for textile workers and alignment with Social Democratic values. In August 1914, Barth was dismayed to learn that his venerated teachers including Adolf von Harnack had signed the 'Manifesto of the Ninety-Three German Intellectuals to the Civilized World', leading him to conclude he could not follow their understanding of the Bible and history any longer. In 1915, Barth and neighbouring pastor Eduard Thurneysen visited Christoph Blumhardt, whose conversation made a deep impression on Barth. Troubled that their theological educations had left them ill-equipped to preach God's message effectively, they engaged in an intensive quest to find a 'wholly other' theological foundation. Barth wrote the first edition of The Epistle to the Romans in 1919, then heavily revised it for the second edition of 1921, in which he openly broke from liberal theology. He taught at Göttingen (1921–1925), Münster (1925–1930), and Bonn (1930–1935) in Germany. While at Göttingen he met Charlotte von Kirschbaum, who became his long-time secretary, assistant and lover; she lived in the family home for 37 years and played a large role in writing the Church Dogmatics. In 1934 he was largely responsible for writing the Barmen Declaration, which rejected the influence of Nazism on German Christianity; he mailed this declaration to Hitler personally. He was forced to resign from his professorship at the University of Bonn in 1935 for refusing to swear an oath to Hitler, and was deported from Germany. He returned to Switzerland and became a professor in Basel (1935–1962).

Reader's Guide

Karl Barth's significance lies in his decisive break from 19th-century liberal theology. His commentary The Epistle to the Romans (especially the thoroughly re-written second edition of 1922) argued that the God revealed in Jesus Christ challenges and overthrows any attempt to ally God with human cultures, achievements, or possessions. The book's popularity led to its republication and reprinting in several languages. The Barmen Declaration, which he largely wrote, became a founding document of the Confessing Church and a model for Christian resistance to totalitarianism. His unfinished Church Dogmatics (published between 1932 and 1967) runs to over six million words and 9,000 pages across five volumes: the Doctrine of the Word of God, the Doctrine of God, the Doctrine of Creation, the Doctrine of Reconciliation, and the Doctrine of Redemption (the planned fifth volume was never written and the fourth volume's final part-volume was unfinished). Barth's theology influenced many significant theologians such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jürgen Moltmann, Helmut Gollwitzer, James H. Cone, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Rudolf Bultmann, Thomas F. Torrance, Hans Küng, Reinhold Niebuhr, Jacques Ellul, and novelists such as Flannery O'Connor, John Updike, and Miklós Szentkuthy. He also had a profound influence on modern Christian ethics, influencing the work of ethicists such as Stanley Hauerwas, John Howard Yoder, Jacques Ellul and Oliver O'Donovan. After the Second World War, Barth became an important voice in support both of German penitence and of reconciliation with churches abroad; together with Hans Iwand, he authored the Darmstadt Declaration in 1947.

Did You Know?

• Barth was featured on the cover of Time on 20 April 1962.
• He was known as the 'Red Pastor from Safenwil' for his advocacy for textile workers and alignment with Social Democratic values.
• Barth was one of only two professors at the University of Bonn who refused to swear an oath to Hitler, alongside Kurt von Fritz.
• Charlotte von Kirschbaum, his long-time secretary, assistant and lover, lived in the family home for 37 years and played a large role in writing the Church Dogmatics.
• The Church Dogmatics runs to over six million words and 9,000 pages.