Barth stands before us as the greatest theologian of the twentieth century. Yet the massive corpus of work which he left behind, the Church Dogmatics, can seem daunting and formidable to readers today. Fortunately his Dogmatics in Outline first published in English in 1949 contains--in brilliantly concentrated form--the most important elements thinking from his awe-imspiring Church Dogmatics.
Built around the assertions made in the Apostles Creed, Dogmatics in Outline consists of a series of reflections on the foundational of Christian doctrinal confession. Because Dogmatics in Outline derives from very particular circumstances, namely the lectures Barth gave in war-shattered Germany in 1946, it has an urgency and a compassion which lend to the text a powerful simplicity. Despite its brevity, the book makes a tremendous impression.
As a summary of Barth's Church Dogmatics, Dogmatics in Outline makes an ideal textbook, or "reader" for those who wish to gain a global view of Barth's work. Its cost is also to much advantage when considering where one should begin to read Barth.
