The Oxford Handbook of Karl Barth. Edited by Paul Dafydd Jones and Paul T. Nimmo

Abstract

This is a splendid reference volume. The editors have expertly arranged the book to feature 42 essays on Karl Barth (1886–1968) by top scholars. These provide a guide to Barth’s life and theology, and Barth in relation to important issues. The essays are distributed into three parts: ‘Contextualizing Barth’, ‘Dogmatic Loci’, and ‘Thinking After Barth’. The editors contend that changes in Barth studies have shattered old stereotypes and, with vigorous debates about his work, Barth has now ‘come to be generally recognized as an admirably uncategorizable thinker, one whose work resists partisan co-option and serves as a vital resource for contemporary theological reflection’ (p. 1). Barth studies are marked by arguments of ‘unprecedented vigour’, so constitute ‘a wonderfully pluralistic and contested domain’ (ibid.). The essays in this volume bear out this appraisal, mapping a vast terrain of topics and discussing each with clarity and deep funds of knowledge . First...