Below are two Karl Barth exerts, the first is a very moving reminiscence from theological Dr. Juan Stam of Costa Rica published on his blog. Dr Stam was a student of Karl Barth and shares some insightful anecdotes from his time studying under him. It shows student-teacher interactions and how he worked out his theology. Dr Stam writes in Spanish, so I reproduce this in the English with the help of Google translator. I think it is a beautiful piece. I had a chance to meet Dr. Stam several years ago and spend an evening with him and his wife. I found a committed intellect with a heart for the gospel, for his fellow human beings and for his world. The second is a video clip from YouTube in which Karl Barth speaks about the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. In this short video clip there is a reference to Hitler and it should be understood in the context of Nazism and the German Church. Many German Christians believed Hitler to be a messiah or savior of sorts. They believed that Hitler represented a historic moment of God's work in Germany through the Arian race. Their is always a danger in claiming a savior in fallible men and political parties. Recently in our local paper, someone wrote to the editor speaking of the country's only hope being "God, Jesus Christ and Donald Trump". Imagine, placing a president amongst the godhead of the Trinity. So easy it is for us to proclaim fallible men as 'saviors'. This clip demonstrates Barth's emphasis on the ultimate revelation being in Jesus Christ, and the doctrinal basis by which he and the confessing church rejected Hitler and Nazism's. see link on this blog: German Christians "The Cross and the Swastika
Some memories of Karl
Barth
By Dr. Juan Stam
When I introduced myself to Barth in
1961, and I told him I was from Costa Rica, Central America, he said,
"Ah, revolutions, right? "I explained that in Costa Rica we
had a stable government, to which he replied, "Ah, volcanoes
and earthquakes then, right?" He was interested in all countries
and was very knowledgeable. He was the very enemy of the regime of
Francisco Franco.
My memories are mostly of Barth's
English colloquy where he engaged with foreign students (about a hundred or so, he also had
colloquiums in Germany and France). Once a student started his
question with, "You, are the greatest theologian of the
twentieth century, what do you think of …" Barth replied, "There are no big
theologians. At the foot of the cross, we are all infants" (in
part he was quoting an author from another time).
Barth had a wonderful sense of humor. In a colloquium where we were talking about creation, an American teacher (as I recall) asked a
rather long question about the dinosaurs. Barth replied that they had nothing to do with the
biblical theme and the theology of creation. The American questioned
Barth's response as a wrong way of relating science and faith, and
later in the conversation, returned to the subject of dinosaurs.
Obviously upset, Barth exclaimed, "What are all these dinosaurs in our theology classroom?
Get them out already; Take them to the zoo where they should be!"
It was my turn to lead the colloquium
and chose a passage from Dogmatics that combined two difficult
problems, predestination and the final judgment. I made a tremendous
effort and Barth praised the work, even saying that he did not have
answers for all my arguments, but he told me he did have one
question.
I had based my arguments strongly in
John 5: 28-29, that says that the dead will come out of their graves
to a resurrection of life or condemnation, but I had not noticed the
whole text, which says "those who did the good" and "those
that did the evil." Barth asked me with sympathetic malice,
"Tell me, Mr. Stam, have you done the good?" He grabbed me
off base! If I say no, my argument falls or I lose my salvation; If I
say yes, I am a Pharisee superb and salvation would be by works. "I
do not," I replied, "but Christ for me." "and
only for you?," "Not, for all those who have put their
faith in him?" Then," he replied, "would not it be
salvation by works?"
At the end of the session, a student
approached and said, "Oh, Professor, how complicated this is, my
head hurts." I was seated next to Barth, I saw that he pointed to the student with his finger and said, "You have taken your eyes
off Christ. When we look at it, all theology is joy because it is
reflection on the grace of God." Surely that colleague lamented
that he had made that comment!
One morning I was in Barth's house, and
that day Cullmann, from the Vatican Council in Rome, instead of commenting on the conciliar process, attacked Bultmann in the press. I asked Barth what he thought of the article?" "I also disagree with Bultmann and have written against his
theology" said Barth, "but Cullmann always has Bultmann in front of his eyes. I
prefer to see Bultmann through a rearview mirror, and fix my eyes on
Christ."
Barth was very humble. When he quarreled with Augustine,
Aquinas, Luther, or Calvin, one felt he was witnessing a dialogue
between equals. But at the same time he was not beyond admitting he
didn't have the answer or lacked information. More than once, he
asked the German students, "What does Von Rad say about that?"
etc. I remember another occasion when we were engaged in a
complicated passage, and Barth asked of a student, "How did Bromiley
translate that into English?" It is very humbling that a famous
author takes into account his translator as criterion of
interpretation of his own writing.
I remember with gratitude another
beautiful experience with Barth. In February 1964 I had my doctoral
oral exams with Reicke, Barth and Cullmann. It had gone badly for a
number of American students and there was a lot of panic. A few days
before the date of my exams Barth told me, "Herr Stam, I'm not
going to make you answer a multitude of questions. To find what you
do not know; I'll put a subject and let you talk about it, so that
you can show us what you know. That gave me a lot of peace and
confidence and the experience went very well for me.
When I returned to our seminar in Costa
Rica and asked for a talk on Barth, I summarized my impression of his
person with three Latin words: humanitas, humilitas, and hilaritas.
That was Karl Barth.
Barth's personality was so rich and
creative, he has become a legend and subject of countless anecdotes apocryphal stories, even these, grow to
be counted. But what I am telling you now are memories that I believe
which are faithful. Above all, they are faithful to the personality
of the teacher.
We are so grateful to have had such faithful witnesses in the past, may our generation also arise to the occasion if we are called to again affirm the Kingdom of God over against the kingdom of this world.
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