The Barth Lectures

Colin Gunton was world renowned as a scholar, systematic theologian and Reformed minister; however, he never lived to fulfill his ambition to write a book devoted solely to Barth. Gunton on Barth is an in-depth analysis, derived from the lecture course he gave most years at King's College London: something of an annual institution it was aimed at undergraduates, though the majority of those attending were MA/PhD students, and researchers from America and Germany! Approximately half of the work consists of quotations representing an essential understanding: Colin was a creative lecturer, although he worked from notes he gave space to the free rein of his mind particularly when fielding questions or trying to analyze a particular strand of Barth's thought. Colin's understanding and expertise was world renowned. He did not take all Barth wrote uncritically, he struggled and wrestled with this giant of twentieth-century theology: as he always said at the beginning of the course, "Not everyone buys into Barth ... I don't, all the way along the line, as I get older I get more and more dissatisfied with the details of his working out of the faith ... over the years I think I have developed a reasonable view of this great man who is thoroughly exciting and particularly, I can guarantee, if you do this course, that you will be a better theologian by the third year, whether or not you agree with him ... he is a great man to learn to think theologically with."