I just recently got my copy of Engaging With Barth, and read the contribution by David Gibson (on Barth’s doctrine of election). This volume looks like a fantastic resource for pastors, a resource that is very much needed. For various reasons, Barth has not really gone away and it is important for evangelicals to work out an appropriate response to the challenge of his theology.
Carl Trueman well described this challenge in the Foreword. “Given all these issues, and the fact that Barth looks set to remain a polarizing factor in evangelical thought and politics, it is a pleasure to commend the following chapters. The authors have all resisted the temptation to become infatuated with Barth, but have also avoided the kind of caricaturing that serves to do nothing other than to break the Ninth Commandment” (p. 15). That is counsel that ought to be followed generally in theological disputes, and not just in disputes with towering, monumental Germans.
If you have read this far, this collection of essays (from men like Michael Ovey, Garry Williams, Michael Horton, Paul Helm, and others) really belongs on your shelf.
