A Quote from Karl Barth on The Gospel
I found this quote from Karl Barth interesting and so thought I would share it. Aside from the gender un-neutral language, I think this quote is quite profound and poses some interesting questions surrounding the nature of Christian dialogue about the Gospel, especially as it pertains to dialogue with other faiths. Thoughts?:
“The Gospel neither requires men to engage in the conflict of religions or the conflict of philosophies, nor does it compel them to hold themselves aloof from these controversies. In announcing the limitation of the known world by another that is unknown, the Gospel does not enter into competition with the many attempts to disclose within the known world some more or less unknown and higher form of existence and to make it accessible to men. The Gospel is not a truth among other truths. Rather, it sets a question-mark against all truths. The Gospel is not the door but the hinge. The man who apprehends its meaning is removed from all strife, because he is engaged in a strife with the whole, even with existence itself. Anxiety concerning the victory of the Gospel — that is, Christian Apologetics — is meaningless, because the Gospel is the victory by which the world is overcome. By the Gospel the whole concrete world is dissolved and established. It does not require representatives with a sense of responsibility, for it is as responsible for those who proclaim it as it is for those to whom it is proclaimed.”
Karl Barth — The Epistle To The Romans, pg. 35.
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