Church Dogmatics

Church Dogmatics (German: Kirchliche Dogmatik) is the fourteen-volume magnum opus of Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth, which was published in stages from 1932 to 1967.

Widely regarded as one of the most important theological works of the century, it represents the pinnacle of Barth's achievement as a theologian. Barth published the first part-volume of the Dogmatics in 1932 and continued working on it until his death in 1968, by which time it was 6 million words long in thirteen part-volumes.

Highly contextual, the volumes are written chronologically, beginning with Vol. I/1. Each volume reacts (in part) to a number of influences: concurrent political issues, questions raised by his students after lectures, and refutations of other academic Christians with opposing views. The material published as the Church Dogmatics was originally delivered in lecture format to students at Bonn (1932) and then Basel (1935–1962), with his final incomplete volume (IV.4) produced in 1967 outside the realm of academia.

Barth explores the whole of Christian doctrine, presenting it as necessarily and entirely Christo-centric. He presents Jesus Christ as the unique and complete Word of God, made flesh. The Bible, therefore, functions as the attestation thereof in a twofold manner:

1. The stories and traditions of Israel along with the prophetic accounts in the Old Testament point forward in time to the man Jesus Christ as the culmination of creation and the beginning of the Kingdom of God.

2. The gospel accounts and Pauline epistles act as witnesses, pointing backwards to the culmination and perfection of the covenant of God, manifested in Jesus Christ.

More specifically, the content of the Church Dogmatics is as such:

Barth's original plan for the Church Dogmatics was as follows: "There would be [in addition to volume I.1] a second half-volume of pretty much the same size, completing the Prolegomena, the doctrine of Revelation. The second volume would contain the doctrine of God, the third the doctrine of Creation, the fourth the doctrine of Reconciliation, the fifth the doctrine of Redemption." Barth died before writing any of the fifth volume. A complete outline of the Church Dogmatics can be found in the Barth installment of the Making of Modern Theology series. The series was originally written in German and was later translated into English under the editorial leadership of T. F. Torrance and G. W. Bromiley.

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