Reviews

An Explorer's Guide to Karl Barth by David Guretzki

adamrshields's review against another edition

4.0

Short Review: This is what I was looking for. I wanted an introduction to how to think about Barth. An Explorer's Guide to Barth is probably mostly for students, but helpful for those of us that managed to get through seminary without really reading anything by Barth.

It opens with a brief biographical sketch and why Barth is still important. And eventually works to a plan for reading on your own to understand him. There is a chapter on 10 things to read outside of Church Dogmatics and then three chapters on how to approach and think about Church Dogmatics. I am not going to attempt even the short plan for Church Dogmatics (there are three reading plans presented) anytime soon. But I do want to read another biography and then one of his shorter books soon.

my full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/explorers-guide-to-karl-barth/

scottacorbin's review

5.0

I’ve read a lot of books on Barth but this one, I think, is the absolute best for beginners. Guretzki captures biography, bibliography, key terms, and suggested readings all in one volume. You could realistically read this book, the sections he encourages you to read in the CD and become more than conversant with recent Barth scholarship. This being an achievement all the more because the sheer magnitude of Barth’s corpus.

Guretzki writes as an instructor and lover of Karl Barth’s work and that shines through here. Highly recommended!