THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH
A commentary on the Apostle’s Creed according to Calvin’s Catechism
By KARL BARTH
Edited by JEAN-LOUIS LEUBA
Translated by GABRIEL VAHANIAN
Wipf & Stock
PUBLISHERS
Eugene, Oregon
Karl Barth
Karl Barth, it is unnecessary to observe, is one of the major theologians of the twentieth century. Beginning with his crucial work Der Roemerbrief in 1919 (translated under the title, Epistle to the Romans) Barth continued to develop in power, trenchancy, and scope of concern. Dr. Gabriel Vahanian, who translated this work from the French, has provided an illuminating introduction as well as one of the most thorough bibliographies of Barth’s writings to have been published.
Translated from the French La Confession
de Foi de l’Eglise by Gabriel Vahanian,
Department of Religion, Princeton University
Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W 8th Ave, Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401
The Faith of the Church
A Commentary on the Apostle’s Creed According to Calvin’s Catechism
By Barth, Karl
Copyright©1958 Theologischer Verlag Zurich
ISBN: 978-1-4982-7074-8
Publication date 6/23/2006
Previously published by SCM Press, 1958
Copyright©1958 of the German original version
Theologischer Verlag Zurich
CONTENTS
Introduction by Gabriel Vahanian
Preface by Jean-Louis Leuba
General Introduction to the Catechism (Questions 1–7)
Special Introduction: The Trust in God (Questions 8–14)
Introduction to the Apostles’ Creed (Questions 15–20)
First Article (Questions 21–29)
Second Article (Questions 30–87)
IIntroduction to the Second Article
IITheology of the Name and Title of Jesus Christ (Questions 30–45)
IIIOnly Son of God (Questions 46–47)
IVOur Lord (Question 48)
VIntroduction to Questions (49–87)
VIDoctrine of the Incarnation (Questions 49–54)
VIIDoctrine of Exinanition (Questions 55–72)
VIIIDoctrine of the Exaltation (Questions 73–87)
Third Article: The Holy Spirit and the Church (Questions 88–110)
IThe Holy Spirit (Questions 88–91)
IIThe Church (Questions 92–100)
IIIThe Forgiveness of Sins (Questions 101–105)
IVThe Resurrection of the Flesh (Questions 106–109)
VThe Life Everlasting (Question 110)
BWorks by Karl Barth
CWorks by Karl Barth in English Translation
DConcerning the Theology of Karl Barth
INTRODUCTION by Gabriel Vahanian
Seldom has Barth been so close to Calvin, and Calvin so close to us, as in the present work, now translated and published in English for the first time. Of course, it is not surprising that Barth should echo Calvin; or that he chose as the framework of his lectures delivered before an audience of Swiss reformed• ministers, to use Calvin’s Catechism of the Church of Geneva of 1545. Everyone acknowledges that Barth has been the leader of the so-called revival of the spirit of Reformation theology in the present day, and that this means for him primarily reformed theology.
What perhaps is surprising is that never has Calvin himself so compelled us to tread other paths than his own as when he is heard through Barth’s interpretation. It will be seen that, for the sake of an equal and common fidelity to the living reality of God, Barth can be marvelously free from Calvin. He can reject him without any feeling of disobedience. But he can also uphold him without reservation. Unlike lesser minds today, he does not have to make Calvin a “Barthian” in order to believe what he says. Nor must he always find some oblique reason in Calvin himself for departing from him in order to write theology in a manner that is truly faithful to the intentions and structure of the rediscovery of the gospel that took place in the period of the Reformation.
The significant characteristic of Barth’s approach, however, is that its concern is not at all merely to reveal to us where Calvin was right and where he was wrong; but it reveals to us, through the reformer’s teaching, the truth exhibited by the Person, the Word and Work, i.e., by the whole event of Jesus the Christ. This common allegiance, and this alone, accounts for the degree of subjection of Barth’s thought to that of Calvin, and at the same time his extraordinary freedom to disagree where he must. This living reality of the Christ-event neither Calvin nor Barth intend to incarcerate in a theological system, as if neatly to conserve the faith forever. Barth’s approach reveals to us that the purpose of Calvin’s teaching is to let its eternal subject, i.e., the Word become flesh, confront the individual, and perchance the disciple, ever anew.
What this means is that a reformed theologian never writes for posterity. He exhibits the living Word today. Only in this manner can what he has to say to his contemporaries have any relevance for their descendants. He is not a master or a doctor as are Augustine and Thomas Aquinas in the Roman Catholic Church. The reformed theologian is at his best when he strives after the description which Barth, in another context, applied to the author of the Institutes “Calvin est pour nous un maître dans l’art d’écouter.”• Calvin teaches us how to listen to the Word of God proclaimed, not to himself, but in the Church.
The foregoing should make evident that it is peculiar good fortune—shall we say, providence?—that this book combines