Böcker av Paul Van Buren

In the general rediscovery of the Reformation of the sixteenth century, the profile of Calvin, who was its greatest teacher, became for many once more impressive. These men had definitely no need of an authoritative orthodoxy. They were and remained free men, even with respect to Calvin (as with respect to all the Fathers of the Church). They found it good and wholesome, however, to become in all freedom the pupils of Calvin. Strange as it may seem, they learned precisely from Calvin a way of free theological thinking! Indeed this great man had not wanted to set up, proclaim and make victorious the authority of his person and teaching, but rather simply to give guidance in the hearing of the Word of God Himself as witnessed in Holy Scripture. He wished 'to bring every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ' (2 Cor. 10.5). He who speaks of 'Calvinism', he who boasts of being a 'Calvinist' or condemns others as 'Calvinists', only shows thereby that he either does not know or has not understood Calvin. He who learns from Calvin learns no '-ism', but rather attention, concentration, loyalty and joyousness before the truth, the truth which is not exhausted in any 'system' and which noman has done enough to serve, not even this master. But this master, in his sermons, in his exegetical writings, in his letters, and also in exemplary fashion in his Irzstz"tutes, did serve the truth. He did so with the highest sense of responsibility, always with well-founded urgency, but also always in such a way as to stimulate further thought, always with stern recollection of the one thing that is necessary, and (far from being concerned entirely with mere theory) always thinking matters through in the face of the actual, practical life of the Church and of Christians in the world, and in the presence of the eternal God. As a teacher of this sort, as an educator into true theological liberalism, Calvin has become known and loved by a few of us during the past decades.(from the Introduction)

The Austin Dogmatics brought the theology of Karl Barth to the United States in an accessible and forceful statement of the most exciting theology of the day. In addition, the yearlong course of lectures proposed a radical theology of Christian mission and ministry to the American churches that grew from the author''s three years of working in the inner city. While at times hammering home a single point, the lectures often flower into a passionate homiletical style that is still captivating half a century later.Publication of the Austin Dogmatics fills a gap in American theological history. In 1963, the author published The Secular Meaning of the Gospel, which the press identified with the death of God movement. While the author denied the association, the Austin Dogmatics explains how he moved from the strict Barthianism of his early period to the linguistic analysis of his middle period. His late and perhaps most important work that lay ahead was yet in another direction entirely, making van Buren one of the most versatile and adventuresome American theologians of the second half of the twentieth century.The current publication includes personal reminiscences by friends and colleagues after the author''s passing.""This hitherto unpublished cycle of early career lectures makes absorbing reading for those interested in the reception of Barth''s theology as well as for those concerned with constructive doctrinal work . . . Here we catch a glimpse of how [a] deep admiration for Barth''s theological achievement inspired [van Buren] to a vigorous practical dogmatics.""--John Webster, Professor at University of AberdeenPaul van Buren was Assistant Professor of Theology at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest (1957-1960) when he wrote the Austin Dogmatics and Associate Professor there (1960-1964) when he wrote The Secular Meaning of the Gospel. He was later Professor of Religion at Temple University (1964-1986) when he wrote the trilogy A Theology of the Jewish-Christian Reality.Ellen Charry is the Margaret W. Harmon Professor of Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Her most recent book is God and the Art of Happiness (2010).

The Austin Dogmatics brought the theology of Karl Barth to the United States in an accessible and forceful statement of the most exciting theology of the day. In addition, the yearlong course of lectures proposed a radical theology of Christian mission and ministry to the American churches that grew from the author's three years of working in the inner city. While at times hammering home a single point, the lectures often flower into a passionate homiletical style that is still captivating half a century later.Publication of the Austin Dogmatics fills a gap in American theological history. In 1963, the author published The Secular Meaning of the Gospel, which the press identified with the death of God movement. While the author denied the association, the Austin Dogmatics explains how he moved from the strict Barthianism of his early period to the linguistic analysis of his middle period. His late and perhaps most important work that lay ahead was yet in another direction entirely, making van Buren one of the most versatile and adventuresome American theologians of the second half of the twentieth century.The current publication includes personal reminiscences by friends and colleagues after the author's passing.