Fortress Press

Karl Barth

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Pope Pius XII hailed Karl Barth, a Swiss Protestant, as “the greatest theologian since Thomas Aquinas.” That declaration was in response to Barth’s monumental achievement, Church Dogmatics, a 16-volume systematic theology. In that work, Barth chartered a new course for modern theology, examining every major Christian doctrine through the lens of Jesus Christ as the revelation of and place of encounter with God. Beyond this landmark work, Barth is remembered for his social and political witness: in the resistance against Nazism, Barth was one of the primary writers of the Barmen Declaration; his activism on behalf of workers and laborers in his community and his ministry to prisoners earned him the nickname “The Red Pastor in Safenwil.” Due to the profound influence Barth exercised over theology in the 20th century – into today – and the nearly unprecedented scale of his output, extensive study of his work is an ongoing, even increasing, task for today’s students and readers in theology.

Fortress Press is one of the premiere contributors to the contemporary investigation, interpretation, and reassessment of Barth’s work. From handy primary source texts (Call to Discipleship) and accessible anthologies (Karl Barth: Theologian of Freedom) to groundbreaking reassessments of Barth’s contribution (Saving Karl Barth; Mission of Demythologizing) and technical monograph studies and dissertations on issues and dimensions of his theology (Theology of the Third Article; Reclaiming Participation; Emerging Scholars series titles), Fortress aims to provide readers at all levels important resources to unlocking and understanding the thought of one of the pioneers of theology in the 20th century. 

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