Karl Barth's Dogmatics in Outline and Christian Life

In the case of both these books, I was quite taken by the sincerity and simplicity of the forewords. For Dogmatics in Outline, it was the revealing that the book was born from lectures given in 1946 Germany, in the semi-ruins of a formerly glorious Schloss where the University of Bonn had relocated, to the sounds of bulldozers, and after singing a hymn or psalm "to cheer ourselves up." I can only imagine the challenges of lecturing in such a setting, and at such a time. In the case of Christian Life, it was the student-published notes from public lectures given by Barth, who evidently gave in to over-enthusiastic and persistent audience members, and implored the reader not to expect the rigor of theology, but to accept as such 'merely what was offered.' Having read the multi-volume Church Dogmatics previously, I did not find any material that was new in these charmingly-introduced little books.