Vance Christiaanse’s Reviews > The Great Passion > Status Update

The section on Barth in the Hays book is so much clearer now. His overview of Barth helps me understand Barth's insistence on revelation as a reaction against Friedrich Schleiermacher. I'm really starting to like the idea of natural theology, although I certainly wouldn't go as far as Schleiermacher, so this is all very interesting.

I've finished the book--glorious chapter on the eschaton--but I'm going to reread the Barth part of Richard Hays' _The Moral Vision of the New Testament_ before I close it out here.

This material on time actually makes some sense to me. "Eternity" is not the same as "infinite time". God created time and is outside it.

To understand how the church relates to the world, start from the understanding that the church is a -witness-.

The credo ecclesiam (now I speak Latin?) exists necessarily and automatically; it's the body of Christ.

This chapter on the Holy Spirit has been very opaque for me. But near the end, some things started to make sense. For one thing, Barth is trying to make clear that the -Holy- Spirit is not some -human- spirit. And, near the end of the chapter, there was an electrifying discussion of Christian community and how it relates to the world--and it's the Holy Spirit that forms this somehow.

I am totally not getting this entire chapter on the Holy Spirit.

I'm reading Gregory Boyd's _Inspired Imperfection_ and that book discusses Barth's view of the Bible at length. But, the table of contents of this book doesn't hint at any discussion of Barth's view of the Bible. Darn.

Whew. Barely understood any of this. But I think there is some benefit in reading this book. Also, another book I’m reading now includes disagreements with Barth so that’s helpful.

A lot on creation and co-humanity that I didn’t really understand. Then sin and again the problem with natural theology. I see even more clearly the danger of it but it’s not clear what the alternative is. The command theory of the good?