Karl Barth is one of the most influential theologians of the past century, especially within conservative branches of Christianity. Liberals, by contrast, find many of his ideas to be problematic. In this study, Keith Ward offers a detailed critique of Barth's views on religion and revelation as articulated in Church Dogmatics. Against Barth's definition of  religions as self-centred, wilful, and arbitrary human constructions, Ward offers a defence of world religions as a God-inspired search for and insight into spiritual truth. Questioning Barth's rejection of natural theology and metaphysics, he provides a defence of the necessity of a philosophical foundation for Christian faith. Ward also dismisses Barth's biased summaries of German liberal thought, upholding a theological liberalism that incorporates Enlightenment ideas of critical inquiry and universal human rights that also retains beliefs that are central to Christianity. Ward defends the universality of divine grace against Barth's apparent denial of it to non-Christian religions.

Karl Barth is one of the most influential theologians of the past century, especially within conservative branches of Christianity. Liberals, by contrast, find many of his ideas to be problematic. In this study, Keith Ward offers a detailed critique of Barth's views on religion and revelation as articulated in Church Dogmatics. Against Barth's definition of  religions as self-centred, wilful, and arbitrary human constructions, Ward offers a defence of world religions as a God-inspired search for and insight into spiritual truth. Questioning Barth's rejection of natural theology and metaphysics, he provides a defence of the necessity of a philosophical foundation for Christian faith. Ward also dismisses Barth's biased summaries of German liberal thought, upholding a theological liberalism that incorporates Enlightenment ideas of critical inquiry and universal human rights that also retains beliefs that are central to Christianity. Ward defends the universality of divine grace against Barth's apparent denial of it to non-Christian religions.

Karl Barth (1886–1968) gilt wegen seiner kritischen Religionstheorie als Vertreter einer dialogunfähigen Theologie, die das Gespräch mit der Moderne und auch mit den nicht-christlichen Religionen behindere. Trotz allem haben VertreterInnen nicht-christlicher Religionen und der Ökumene ein starkes Interesse an Barths Theologie. Der vorliegende Band bietet eine Grundlagenreflexion, bei der Barths kritische Religionstheorie in Hinsicht auf den zeitgenössischen Religionspluralismus reflektiert wird. Darüber hinaus stellen Vertreter von fünf führenden religiösen Traditionen sowohl Barths Rezeption der betreffenden Religion als auch ihre eigene Wahrnehmung seiner Theologie vor. Der Band schließt mit einer Untersuchung zur Bedeutung von Barths Religionstheorie und -kritik für den ökumenischen Dialog.Due to his critical theory on religion Karl Barth (1886–1968) is considered as a representative of a theology which is incapable of dialogue and which hinders the debate both with the modern and with non-Christian religions. However, representatives of non-Christian religions and ecumenism are highly interested in Barth''s theology. The present volume offers a fundamental reflection in which Barth''s critical theory on religion is analysed on the basis of contemporary religious pluralism. Furthermore, representatives of five leading religious traditions present Barth''s reception of their religion and their own perception of his theology. The volume terminates with an analysis of the meaning of Barth''s theory on religion and his criticism for the ecumenical dialogue.

An exploration of the problems posed by the Holocaust in the light of Barth's theology, showing how such a dialogue enriches our understanding of both.It has been widely accepted that few individuals had as great an influence on the church and its theology during the twentieth century as Karl Barth (1886-1968). His legacy continues to be explored and explained, with theologians around the world and from across the ecumenical spectrum vigorously debating the doctrinal ramifications of Barth's insights. What has been less readily accepted is that the Holocaust of the Jews had an equally profound effect, and that it, too, entails far-reaching consequences for the church's understanding of itself and its God. In this groundbreaking book, Barth and the Holocaust are brought into deliberate dialogue with one another to show why the church should heed both their voices, and how that might be done.

Reluctant Accomplice is a volume of the wartime letters of Dr. Konrad Jarausch, a German high-school teacher of religion and history who served in a reserve battalion of Hitler's army in Poland and Russia, where he died of typhoid in 1942. He wrote most of these letters to his wife, Elisabeth. His son, acclaimed German historian Konrad H. Jarausch, brings them together here to tell the gripping story of a patriotic soldier of the Third Reich who, through witnessing its atrocities in the East, begins to doubt the war's moral legitimacy. These letters grow increasingly critical, and their vivid descriptions of the mass deaths of Russian POWs are chilling. They reveal the inner conflicts of ordinary Germans who became reluctant accomplices in Hitler's merciless war of annihilation, yet sometimes managed to discover a shared humanity with its suffering victims, a bond that could transcend race, nationalism, and the enmity of war. Reluctant Accomplice is also the powerful story of the son, who for decades refused to come to grips with these letters because he abhorred his father's nationalist politics.Only now, late in his life, is he able to cope with their contents--and he is by no means alone. This book provides rare insight into the so-called children of the war, an entire generation of postwar Germans who grew up resenting their past, but who today must finally face the painful legacy of their parents' complicity in National Socialism.

Reluctant Accomplice is a volume of the wartime letters of Dr. Konrad Jarausch, a German high-school teacher of religion and history who served in a reserve battalion of Hitler's army in Poland and Russia, where he died of typhoid in 1942. He wrote most of these letters to his wife, Elisabeth. His son, acclaimed German historian Konrad H. Jarausch, brings them together here to tell the gripping story of a patriotic soldier of the Third Reich who, through witnessing its atrocities in the East, begins to doubt the war's moral legitimacy. These letters grow increasingly critical, and their vivid descriptions of the mass deaths of Russian POWs are chilling. They reveal the inner conflicts of ordinary Germans who became reluctant accomplices in Hitler's merciless war of annihilation, yet sometimes managed to discover a shared humanity with its suffering victims, a bond that could transcend race, nationalism, and the enmity of war. Reluctant Accomplice is also the powerful story of the son, who for decades refused to come to grips with these letters because he abhorred his father's nationalist politics.Only now, late in his life, is he able to cope with their contents--and he is by no means alone. This book provides rare insight into the so-called children of the war, an entire generation of postwar Germans who grew up resenting their past, but who today must finally face the painful legacy of their parents' complicity in National Socialism.

Despite famously small numbers, Christians have had a distinctive presence in modern Japan, particularly for their witness on behalf of democracy and religious freedom. A translation of Ken’i to Fukujū: Kindai Nihon ni okeru Rōma-sho Jūsan-sho (2003), Authority and Obedience is «a personal pre-history» of the postwar generation of Japanese Christian intellectuals deeply committed to democracy. Using Japanese Christians’ commentary on Paul’s injunction in Romans 13: 1-7, the counsel to «let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God…», Miyata offers an intellectual history of how Japanese Christians understood the emperor-focused modern state from the time of the first Protestant missionaries in the mid-nineteenth century through the climax and demise of fascism during the Pacific War. Stressing verse 5’s admonition to «conscience» as the reason for obedience, Miyata provides a clear and political perspective grounded in his lifelong engagement with German political thought and theology, particularly that of Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as he calls for a conscientious citizenry in his modern society. Showing both Christians’ complicity with the state and the empire – including the formation of a unified church, the Nihon Kirisuto Kyōdan – and their attitude toward Christians in Asia, and the complexity of the critical voices of Christians like Uchimura Kanzō, Kashiwagi Gien, Nanbara Shigeru, and many others less well known – Miyata’s work aims not at exposing cultural particularity but at showing how the modern Japanese Christian experience can give meaning to a theology and a political theory of how to live within the «freedom of religious belief».

If asked to define “Nazism,” most people think of fascism, racism, antisemitism, and the use of propaganda. Few people know that Nazism also included a strong religious component. Yet it did. The Nazi religion was termed Positive Christianity, and it is directly cited in Hitler’s Nazi Party Platform of 1920. But what was Positive Christianity? In this book, Kathleen Burton details when and where this religion was embraced; how it was received and critiqued by the prominent theologians of the 1930s; and how a combined effort of rogue Catholic priests and Protestant pastors in France, aware of the religious threat, worked together to fight Nazism during World War II. This contributed to the survival of seventy-five percent of France’s Jewish population. Burton concludes by describing what work still needs to be done to fully understand, clarify, and debunk Nazism’s Positive Christianity. Today’s world is fascinated by the tragic events of World War II, yet Hitler’s propaganda coup against traditional Christianity is not well-known or understood. This book closes that gap.