The Flaws Of Karl Barth

Rauschenbusch believes that theology has “lost its contact with the synoptic thought of Jesus” (133). While

The Protestant Reformation was an important part of the history of Europe. In the various articles, videos, and passages that were required to be read, we looked at different aspects of the Protestant Reformation and how this affected Europe and the people during that time period. Because of Martin Luther’s ambition and courage to create opposition to the Catholic church, it sparked a revolution within the population of the different countries under the rule of the Roman Empire. In the following paragraphs, the importance and analysis about the Protestant Reformation are explained from readings and videos discussed in this class.

The Apostle Paul, Saint Augustine, and Martin Luther have been three very important figures in the Christian church. Each went through a unique personal experience that changed the course of their lives. Those experiences were important to them and they should be important to anyone of the Christian faith. In this research paper I will explore these experiences and how they do and do not relate to each other.

The rise of a new religion is often met with both praise and malice from the hierarchy of the civilization it springs from. The rise of Lutheranism affected all of Western Europe, but it’s most prominent impact was on the peasants and serfs with no where to turn in what is today Germany. As the growth of Lutheranism picked up speed at the beginning of the sixteenth century, peasants from all over the Germanic states turned to Lutheranism in search of salvation and escape from the corruption sweeping the Catholic Church. Lutheranism’s impact stretched far beyond its own boarders, instigating changes within the Catholic Church to combat Lutheranism. Through Lutheranism, the

The author demonstrates that an adverse atmosphere can cause a person to relinquish their faith. The author establishes the purpose through the sufferings of Moishe the Beadle, Wiesel’s torment and plight of other prisoners in the concentration camp.

Being of German nationality may have been of aid for prisoners during the Holocaust, but it did not for Kusserow. Kusserow was born a Lutheran but later became a Jehovah’s Witness, following his parents’ conversion. His family held Bible studies for other Jehovah’s Witnesses, illegally, in their own home. The Kusserow family moved to Bad Lippspringe in late 1920 or early 1921, after Karl-Heinz’s father finished serving in World War I, ironically, to the German army. In this new home, the Kusserow’s continued to hold Bible studies.

This understanding of Schleiermacher’s religion will become important in our later discussion of the value of Christianity.

This professor was disappointed with the students who were in graduate school at BU and graduated from the school of theology since they didn’t know anything about Christianity. He pointed out that American students go to church and do not know the history of Christianity, while Austrian students do not go to church but know the history. This is counterproductive and calls for a reformation of the religious sector in the United States. Today, the history is not emphasized as much as the lessons that are learned and the correct way to act. He points out that we do not need to learn how we are supposed to act according to the bible by attending church.

Heiko Oberman’s book, Luther: Man between God and the Devil, explores Martin Luther’s life, theology and legacy. Oberman does not simply focus on Luther’s actions and behaviors as a Reformer, nor does he evaluate Luther from a purely Protestant or Catholic point of view. Instead, the book examines Luther’s continual battle with the Devil. In order to truly understand Luther, it is important “to grasp the man in his totality-with head and heart” (Oberman, 1989, xix). Luther is not merely a monk, professor, heretic or a reformer, but he was a man who 's spiritual struggle with the Devil deeply affected his life, as well as the Church.

In Chapter one, “The Bauer Thesis: An Overview,” Rodney J. Decker orients the reader to the work of Walter Bauer. Though he summarizes Bauer’s other research and highly praises his lexical work enshrined in BDAG (p.9-10), Decker focuses the chapter on summarizing Bauer’s “paradigm shaping book,” Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity. First, he sketches the broad outlines of Bauer’s thesis without entangling the reader within the minutia of Bauer’s arguments (p.11-17). Next, taking up the bulk of the chapter, Decker surveys several major responses, both positive and negative (but mostly negative), that have been leveled at Orthodoxy and Heresy since its publication, from the first critical response by H. E. W. Turner in 1954, to Köstenburger and Kruger’s book published in 2010 (p.17-32). Decker concludes the chapter by declaring, in the words of Darrell

For my primary source, I decided to choose a letter found in Narrative of the Anabaptist Madness: The Overthrow of Munster, the Famous, Metropolis of Westphalia by Hermann von Kerssenbrock. Although this was a letter in a book written by Herman von Kerssenbrock, it was actually written by Bernard Rothman; a radical preacher that strained the boundaries of what religious reformed looked like at that time. Rothman was born in Swabisch Hall around 1495 in southwestern Germany. A furrier by trade, Rothman often travelled to different parts Livonia around the Baltic Sea. In the places that Rothman would stop for business, he would also begin to preach radical ideas about need for church reform and Anabaptism in general. Putting a more controversial spin on the teachings of Luther, Rothman would sometimes cause riots in the towns that he stayed in, and because of this, he was often banned from the places he traveled. Eventually, Rothman gained an officially role of preacher in Stockholm in 1527, but he was soon expelled from their as well for his radical preaching. Relocating to and being expelled from places such as Lubek, Denmark, Wittenberg, and East Frisia, Rothman reached out to Luther to receive a letter of commendation. Luther refused to supply Rothman with this based on the fact that he did not agree with Rothman’s preaching iconoclasm, his allegorical interpretation of the Eucharist, and, most prominently his apocalyptic

Bainton’s Here I Stand is a chronologically arranged biography of Martin Luther’s life which seeks to show his philosophy and ideas for the reform of the Catholic Church without seeking to perform psychoanalysis of the Reformer.

It seems strange that so little is known biographically about one of the most important figures in Christian history, but this only serves to add to the mystery and grandeur surrounding the Apostle Paul of Tarsus. Much, however, is known of the time after his conversion to Christ and what he did to contribute to Christianity in this period, and it is this that leaves a greater legacy than the simple facts of his life. The contributions that he made towards the cause of Christ and the spreading and formation of Christianity are what he is perennially remembered for.

In the early years of Karl Barth, he stressed the distance that had been created between the sinful humanity and the holy God. In addition, Barth advocated for the absolute opposition between God and humanity, saying “the most we can do is become an empty room, a

Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume I: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. Second Edi. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2010.