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BOOK REVIEWS The Church in the Theology of Karl Barth. By CoLM O'GRADY. Washington -Cleveland: Corpus Books, 1969. Pp. 866. $10.00. Any appreciation of this book by Colm O'Grady on the ecclesiology of the late Karl Barth must take into consideration the express intention of the author as presented in the Introduction. The book under consideration is merely the first volume of a two-part study of Barth's ecclesiology. The second volume, although announced for Spring, 1969, has not, to my knowledge, appeared to date. In this first volume the author wishes to present a faithful exposition of Barth's ecclesiology and thus make some contribution towards the Catholic understanding of our separated brethren. It is only in a second volume that he will present the reflections of a Catholic in relation to Karl Barth's doctrine on the Church. Colm O'Grady has remained faithful to his purpose. Except for a few pages of interim reflections, the book consists of an exact presentation, in a summary form, of the teaching of Karl Barth on the Church and directly related matter. The latter includes almost the whole of dogmatics, as a cursory glance at the table of contents will soon confirm: Section One. "The Church of God: The Eternal Basis of the Church in God's Election of Grace." Section Two. " The Church in the Son: The Objective Realization of Reconciliation." Section Three. " The Church Through the Holy Spirit: The Fundamental Form of the Subjective Realization of Reconciliation." These three sections follow an analysis of Barth's teaching on the Church as found in the first edition of his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, the basic text where his Theology of Crisis, less properly known as his Dialectical Theology, is to be found. O'Grady is very careful to point out the development which took place in the· theological thinking of Karl Barth. His treatment of the Theology of Crisis is objective since he allows, for the most part, Barth to speak for himself-a procedure which the author follows throughout this first volume. O'Grady gives a brief outline of the genesis of the Theology of Crisis, listing the names of those who influenced the thought of Barth both positively and negatively, i.e., Plato, Kant, Hegel, Schleiermacher, W. Herrmann, the two Blumhardts, Overbeck, Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky, not to mention Luther and Calvin and St. Paul as read by the Reformers and Barth himself. Plato and Kant Barth knew through his brother, Heinrich, and Dostoevsky through his friend, E. Thurneysen. Barth's attitude towards the representatives of neo-Protestantism was critical. He was primarily an original theologian and exegete whose principle source 811 812 BOOK REVIEWS was Paul. However, there is no denying the influence of Luther's "sola gratia" interpreted according to an ultra~Calvanistic "soli Deo gloria" on Barth's basic and persistent affirmation of the absolute Sovereignty of God and his gracious activity. Barth will eventually nuance his Theology of Crisis, hut he will. remain faithful to his fundamental insight on, the absolute Sovereignty of God and his separation from man or " diastasis." . Karl Barth's evolution from a Theology of Crisis to a Theology of the Word of God to that of the Word of God made Flesh, Jesus Christ, is. well presented by O'Grady. The fundamental role of Jesus Christ in the· election, justification and sanctification of man is a recurring theme· throughout. All is realized and proclaimed in Jesus Christ. The Father elects, justifies and sanctifies man in the Elect, the Just and the Holy &e, and man participates in this gracious activity of God insofar as he is a member of the Whole Christ. Jesus Christ is the concrete realization of God's gracious activity while, at the same time, revealing the total· Otherness of God. It is through the Spirit of the Lord that man is saved in the Community, and yet man remains at once just and sinner. The Word of God is found in the Scriptures alone, and yet the Scriptures, in their materiality, are not Revelation, which remains basically the work of the Holy Spirit. Man is called to become a member of...

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