First Thoughts on Reading “The Last Temptation of Christ”

I have posted an article on my other blog, Thoughts…, which gives my initial impressions upon reading the first 200 pages, of 500, of Kazantzakis’ controversial novel. I claim that novel misses the mark somewhat but it’s not as much in conflict with Christian orthodoxy as the writings of theologians and philosophers in the Calvinist … [Read more…]

Karl Barth: Should We Dare to Understand Creation?

[Part 4: Continuation of my comments upon reading Barth’s “The Epistle to the Romans”, Oxford University paperback, 1968] On page 437, Barth claims: “As an act of thinking [thinking of eternity] it dissolves itself; it participates in the pure thought of God, and is therefore an accepted sacrifice, living, holy, acceptable to God.” Barth — … [Read more…]

Karl Barth: Trudging Onward

[Part 3: Continuation of my comments upon reading Barth’s “The Epistle to the Romans”, Oxford University paperback, 1968] As a passing matter, I noted a hint of modal logic in a passage beginning around the middle of page 324 with: “Thus, before every moment in time, God foreordains… Here is it that we encounter the … [Read more…]

Karl Barth: Instilling Shadowy Hope in Ghostly Men

[Part 2: Continuation of my comments upon reading Barth’s “The Epistle to the Romans”, Oxford University paperback, 1968] Around page 290, we see Barth trying to turn towards hope. Unfortunately, he has left himself in the position of most modern existentialists: all that we know to be real is nothingness and we have to look … [Read more…]

God as Other — What Was Karl Barth Up To?: Part 1.

I’ve been reading Karl Barth’s Epistle to the Romans, a book surprisingly oft-read decades ago. [For the scholars out there, I’m using the paperback edition published by Oxford University Press in 1968.] Barth’s writing and thinking style is still more discursive than mine, and he is probably still more intense than I am at my … [Read more…]