Karl Barth

Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is himself the way.

Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.

Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.

When theology recognizes one thing properly, it mis-recognizes something else all the more thoroughly.

Thou shalt make no image, no abstraction, including none of THE American, THE Swiss, THE German.

On observing 1963 America for the first time, the author says that organization and standardization to a certain degree compete with divine providence.

Theology must have the character of a living procession.

God transcends even the undertakings of evangelical theologians.

This much is certain, that we have no theological right to set any sort of limits to the loving-kindness of God which has appeared in Jesus Christ. Our theological duty is to see and understand it as being still greater than we had seen before.

A free theologian works in communication with other theologians...He waits for them and asks them to wait for him. Our sadly lacking yet indispensable theological co-operation depends directly or indirectly on whether or not we are wiling to wait for one another, perhaps lamenting, yet smiling with tears in our eyes.

In the Church of Jesus Christ there can and should be no non-theologians.

heaven and earth, nature and man, comedy and tragedy, _ the Virgin Mary and the demons...Mozart simply contains and includes all this within his music in perfect harmony. This harmony is not a matter of __alance_ or __ndifference_ _ it is a glorious upsetting of the balance, a turning in which the light rises and the shadows fall, in which the Yes rings louder than the ever-present

He has heard, and causes those with ears to hear, even today, what we shall not see until the end of time - the whole context of Providence. As though in the light of this end, he heard the harmony of creation to which the shadow belongs but in which the shadow is not darkness, deficiency is not defeat, trouble cannot degenerate into tragedy and infinite melancholy is ultimately forced to claim undisputed sway...Mozart causes us to hear that even on the latter side, and therefore in its totality creation praises its master and is therefore perfect.

A quite specific astonishment stands at the beginning of every theological perception, inquiry, and thought.

Theology is not a private subject for theologians only. Nor is it a private subject for professors. Fortunately, there have always been pastors who have understood more about theology than most professors. Nor is theology a private subject of study for pastors. Fortunately, there have repeatedly been congregation members, and often whole congregations, who have pursued theology energetically while their pastors were theological infants or barbarians. Theology is a matter for the Church.

No one can become and remain a theologian unless he is compelled again and again to be astonished at himself.

To wish to withstand the Holy Spirit would be the one unforgivable sin.

Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.