Election, Barth, and the French Connection: How Pierre Maury Gave a Decisive Impetus to Karl Barth's Doctrine of Election

Karl Barth’s famous account of the doctrine of election in his mammoth Dogmatics has been described as the heart of his theology—a great hymn to the grace of God in Christ. Discover the person who initially stimulated Barth’s mammoth reworking of the “classical” view of the doctrine—pastor/theologian Pierre Maury (1890–1956). Their close friendship and especially a seminal paper Maury gave in 1936 entitled “Election and Faith” helped stimulate Barth’s reflection. Discover some never-before-translated works of Maury as well as a revision of a previously published piece on predestination. In this revised and expanded second edition, seven theologians reflect on the significance of these works for us today from historical, textual, pastoral, and theological standpoints, and seek to draw conclusions for us in our contemporary setting.

Simon Hattrell served as a missionary in France in the 1970s and 1980s, was Principal of the Tasmanian College of Ministries in Hobart, Tasmania, in the 1990s, and in his retirement has helped coordinate distance theological education and training for the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania.

Simon was nurtured in the Christian faith from an early age and remembers with much affection the care shown to his widowed mother by the Vicar of the Benedictine Norman Abbey Church of Tewkesbury in the Cotswolds district of the UK.

He served four years in the Glorious Glosters, his county regiment (February '65 to October '68), with postings to Mauritius, active service in Aden and South Yemen, then Cyprus, Chester, and Berlin.

He became a "Ten Pound Pom" and immigrated to Tasmania at the end of 1968.

His faith was reawakened through his sister's love and prayers. Married to Barbara, a native Tasmanian, in 1970, he spent 1972/3 at Bible college in Brisbane, subsequently returning to Savage River on the West Coast, leading the inter-denominational Community Church, and teaching scripture every week in the Area School for nearly three years. By this time Jonathan and Kirsty had arrived, followed soon after by Benjamin and Stefan, the latter in France, where he worked with a large Evangelical Church in the University City of Montpellier, primarily amongst foreign students.

He then engaged in church planting and congregational development in a beautiful region called the Massif Central.

On his return to Tasmania at the end of 1989, he soon became involved in the leadership of the Tasmanian College of Ministries, which later became Tabor College Tasmania (now Alphacrucis College, Hobart Campus), teaching regularly and leading it through a period of intense development and helping to gain government accreditation for their courses in 1996. He taught a range of subjects including Bible, Comparative Religion, and Ministry.

Beginning in 2002 Simon's part time postgraduate study gave him the opportunity to explore the theology of Karl Barth and Thomas Torrance, as well as reflect on the lessons and stages of leadership development.

After serving for part of 2003 as a Pastoral Assistant at BayWest (Wellspring) Anglican Church in Sandy Bay, Hobart during an interregnum, he was admitted to Anglican orders on his 58th birthday in October 2005 and ordained priest at the beginning of 2006. In early 2007 he and Barbara moved to the Diocese of North Queensland, where Simon was Rector of Mount Isa and then Heatley in Townsville.

After his "retirement" at the end of 2012, Simon secured a publisher (Wipf and Stock) for a revised translation that he completed of Pierre Maury's work on predestination (1961) while also completing translations of two other significant works, including a seminal paper Maury gave in 1936 in Geneva that had never ever been translated into English. This paper had a huge influence on Karl Barth and was included in the publication. Maury was a well known and loved French Christian leader, theologian, and Reformed Minister. This project garnered a lot of interest and support from a whole range of theologians here in Australia, the UK, Germany, and the USA.

Suzanne McDonald is Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan.