A man with the complexities of Karl Barth requires a biography that is as complex. Busch attempts to bridge the gap between biography and autobiography by developing this work from Barth’s own letters, correspondence, and conversations. As Barth’s assistant in his final years, Busch occupied a unique position which allowed him to see the man as few have. In this work, Busch chronicles the life and development of Barth by examining him as the consummate student, pastor, theologian, political activist (or lack thereof in a few cases) and person.
Busch has written a brilliant biography in that it uniquely demonstrates the life and thought of Barth on all levels of existence. One finds themselves cheering the heroics of Barth on one page while subsequently casting stones at his treacherous thoughts on the page that follows. The approach of using Barth’s own words with very little intrusion from Busch is brilliant in that it shows what otherwise would remain hidden, yet the brilliance is at times dulled due to the virtual impossibility of being able to smoothly transition from one thought to the next.
All things considered, Busch's biography of Barth should be considered by all students of theological history for the purpose of seeing Barth as a dogmatician who was not developed in a vacuum. The struggles, both internal and external, along with the victories, made Barth the theologian we know him as. Busch shows that to know Barth by his magnum opus is not to Barth at all.
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