Why not spend a year with Karl Barth? Why not! I am feeling the need to revisit this ‘church father’ and rethink what he has to say about theology, church, mission and life, especially for the 21st century. I will begin in January with Church Dogmatics, I/1, “The Doctrine of the Word of God” and read as far as I am able in the next 12 months. He should provide plenty of quotes and ample fodder for posts in the coming days.
Will you join me in this journey? Reading schedules for the Dogmatics exist (e.g., jrdkirk.com). I like the suggestion of reading 15 pages a day. At this rate, one can work their way through all 14 volumes in two years. But even this leisurely pace sounds a bit too regimented. I want to read everyday but only as much I want or need to read without a page number that might be too much or too little for a particular day, or that might interrupt Barth in the middle so some long and complicated section. My plan is to read everyday (first thing in the morning) as far as I want. I will log distance by the week rather than the day. My goal is to get through about 125 pages a week. (I do have other things to do!)
So, I invite you to join me. Hopefully by making my intentions public and having some of you join me, I (we) will actually stay the course over the next 12 months. By the way, a reprinted edition of Church Dogmatics is on sale for $129 at ChristianBook.com. What a nice Christmas gift!