Karl Barth's Evangelical Theology

I read this book with an eye to seeing if there was anything he said about a theologian that also applies to the life of a university professor. As it turns out, there was. "...all theological work can be undertaken and accomplished only amid great distress, which assails it on all sides. ...theological work should be boldly begun and carried forward because, hidden in the great distress in which alone it can take place, its still greater hope and impulse are present." (p. 159) Yes, I do my work in hope -- disappointed often in some ways, and romantic in others, but hope nonetheless. On p. 165, Barth says that for the theologian, the 'only possible procedure every day, in fact every hour, is to begin anew at the beginning. An in this respect theological work can be exemplary for all intellectual work. Yesterday's memories can be comforting and encouraging for such work only if they are identical with the recollection that this work, even yesterday, had to begin at the beginning and, it is to be hoped, actually began there." There was also truth and similarities when Barth says that 'theological study and the impulse which compels it are not passing stages of life." (p. 172) Later on the same page he says that 'When properly understood, an examination is a friendly conversation of older students of theology with younger ones, concerting certain themes in which they share a common interest. Th e purpose of this conversation is to give younger participants an opportunity to exhibit themselves, and to what extent they appear to give promise of doing so in the future. The real value of a doctorate, even when earned with the greatest distinction, is totally dependent on the degree to which its recipient has conducted and maintained himself as a learner." I love it! This is the spirit of the university!

Then Barth speaks of what study is about: first, the student, young or old, has to inquire directly into what his predecessors had to say to the world, to the community of the present, and to himself as a member of that community. Then the student must allow himself indirectly to be given the necessary directions and admonitions for the journey toward the answer which he seeks. These instructions are gained from the theologians of the past, the recent past, and form his immediate antecedents. No one should imagine himself so inspired or clever and wise that he can conduct the primary discussion by his own powers.