Book Review: Karl Barth: The Word in this World: Two Sermons

  • Karl Barth: The Word in this World: Two Sermons

Karl Barth: The Word in this World: Two Sermons 
This slim volume has some great introductory material about the two sermons (Eberhard Busch, Will Willimon, Clifford Anderson) and great blurbs which serve as more introductory material (Geoffrey Bromiley, Donald McKim, James Strauss, Dieter Zellweger). The first sermon in the volume Barth later found embarrassing because the sinking of the Titanic was more of a focus than Scripture. The second is in Barth's classic expositional style but it is also inspiring. The text is Jesus walking on the water and Peter going out to him. 

Here is a quote: 

"What is required–what Jesus Christ continually requires–are rocks like this who are certainly not perfectly untainted people, who are perhaps seriously objectionable in many ways and will have much to answer for, but are nevertheless ready to do something quite specific, to render obedience to a specific word by undertaking a specific service." Karl Barth, "The Bremen Sermon (Matthew 14:22-23)," in The Word in this World: Two Sermons by Karl Barth (ed. Kurt I. Johanson; trans. Christopher Asprey; Vancouver, BC: Regent College Publishing, 2007), 55.

It made me want to preach. Add this to my recommendation of God in Action: Theological Addresses as a good introduction to Barth.

See my Karl Barth category for more on Barth.