Friday, March 13, 2015

Karl Barth on the Heidelberg Catechism

"The church, the Christian community, is as a human community given the honor to proclaim and spread the good news of Jesus Christ in the world. For the sake of this task there is ever a fresh need for Christian doctrine, for such a summary in which the church answers to itself for what it has to say and proclaim. Now the good news of Jesus Christ is not a dead commodity handed over to us so that we can "have" it. Beware of this capitalistic conception of Christianity in any form, old or new! The gospel must ever again be explored and sought and inquired into. It demands work, reflection, exertion. It demands faithfulness and independent investigation. The church may not avoid this effort, for its existence as church depends upon it. Doctrine is thus not its own goal. One can work at theology for theology's sake just as little as he can work at art for art's sake. Christian doctrine is rather a part of the service of the community, service to God and to neighbor. It is thus a part of the church's liturgy. In this sense we will do our work, and in this sense only can it be done. When we teach or study theology, we stand in the service of the church."


“[In the Heidelberg Catechism,] We find ourselves within the walls of the church, in the circle of the pious, and the evil world unfortunately has no part in this affair. But the name of God, his kingdom and his will, reach beyond the church and over its walls. "God so loved the world." "You are the light of the world." That is the note which must be sounded in genuinely evangelical doctrine! According to Holy Scripture, the goal of Christianity and the church is not Christianity and the church, but service in God's work and therefore also service of men. The church is the place where God is praised in such a way that others are called. We do not fundamentally disagree with the catechism if we emphasize this.”