Karl Barth says Suicide is Self-Murder but not an Unforgivable Sin (June 11, 2018)

Karl Barth speaks a decisive No! to suicide in the Church Dogmatics III/4. In the last week, after the suicide of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, there have been many positive and negative responses, so it is an appropriate time to discuss the ethics of suicide. Karl Barth argues that suicide is […]

Related: anthony bourdain, Assisted Suicide, CD III/4, Church Dogmatics III/4, Death, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Calvin, Karl Barth, Kate Spade, killing, murder, suicide

Jürgen Moltmann: The Annihilation of Hell by the Cosmic Christ Jesus (April 27, 2018)

This week, a celebrity pastor equated the love of Jesus with unending punishment in hell, and justified his comment with arguments such as counting the number of biblical references to Jesus (without any respect to author or intention, and as if the number of verses a word occurs in the […]

Related: Annihilation of Hell, Death, Hell, Jürgen Moltmann

Wolfhart Pannenberg on Death Before the Fall of Humanity (September 7, 2017)

Wolfhart Pannenberg (1928-2014) argued that there was death before the Fall of humanity described in the Creation Stories (Gen 1-3). Pannenberg's explanation of death in prehuman history enables us to better understand the Doctrine of Creation, and how evolutionary sciences may be interpreted in respect to it, and how to […]

Related: creation, Death, death before the fall, evil, Evolution, Fall, sin, suffering, systematic theology, Wolfhart Pannenberg

Friedrich Schleiermacher’s Last Meal (July 7, 2017)

Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) was a German Protestant theologian and philosopher that is frequently called the "Father of Liberal Protestantism." Schleiermacher is arguably the most influential theologian after John Calvin and before Karl Barth, and his most influential books are On Religion: Speeches to its Cultural Despisers and his systematic theology, The Christian Faith. […]

Related: Death, Eurchasist, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth, lord's supper, Protestant Theology in the Nineteenth Century: Its Background and History

John Webster has died (May 26, 2016)

According to multiple sources, the great Barthian scholar, John Webster has died. It's a great loss for us all. Webster was the author of Karl Barth (Outstanding Christian Thinkers) and The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth and many other works. I'm an unashamed Barth fan, but when I heard from […]

Related: Death, John Webster, RIP

Karl Barth’s Funeral Sermon for his son Matthias (1 Cor 13:12) (November 5, 2015)

"The family in early 1930: Grete Karwehl, Peter Barth, Markus, Charlotte von Kirschbaum, Hans Jakob, Karl Barth, Franziska, Christoph, Matthias, Nelly Barth" (source: kbarth.org) Matthias Barth died on Sunday, June 21st, 1941. He fell in a climbing accident at Fründenhorn mountain. Matthias was 20 years old and the fourth child of Karl Barth. Karl Barth preached […]

Related: beatific vision, Death, eschatology, funeral sermon, grave, Incomplete One, Karl Barth, Matthias Barth