It is what it is, an immediate post-death puff piece biography of a somewhat successful interdenominational early 20th century evangelist. On the posiIt is what it is, an immediate post-death puff piece biography of a somewhat successful interdenominational early 20th century evangelist. On the positive side, I can now categorize his name when I see it in print - athlete in college, came up in the Billy Sunday era, had some years of staggering success, transitioned as he got older into preaching for hire, etc. Had a way with words in an entertaining manner, but there is no there there. In the book or in the man....more
This is, in every respect, a serious biography. Though a bit dated now, having been penned in the 1970s, especially in relation to the major news regaThis is, in every respect, a serious biography. Though a bit dated now, having been penned in the 1970s, especially in relation to the major news regarding his coworker, Charlotte, it is, nevertheless, a solid work, just this side of excellent. Busch does a good job of tracing the arc of his career from student to pastor to professor to author to celebrity theologian to old man. He explains well in an in-depth but not exhaustive way the major controversies of his career, such as his expulsion from Germany under the Nazis. Along the way, Busch succeeds where biographies of writers often fail, in that he largely describes for us the man rather than the man's work. Of course, Busch does comment and/or explain major aspects of Barth's thinking/thought process on numerous subjects but primarily shows us the man here rather than the man's thought. On the negative side, and it is a serious flaw, Busch largely fails to show us the reality of Barth's day to day life in relation to his home, his marriage, and his children. They are mentioned here or there, but never unpacked or examined in the context of the impact these things have on a man's life.
...and the man I found was unimpressive, dramatically so. Make no mistake, Barth was brilliant and it shows. I read the book because I had zero practical knowledge of the 20th century's most famous theologian and I wanted to fix that. I did. Prior to reading this biography I had no desire to read Barth's works; now, having finished the biography, I positively will not read Barth's work. I suspected I would have little patience with Germanic theologians and I was right. Ivory tower. Word salad. Nebulous attempts to bridge the gap between liberal and orthodox positions. An enormous amount of work put into rather useless discussions of minute points of theology. Little genuine ministry. It was all an endless round of pipe-smoking, conversation, colloquiums, doctorates, words, ecumenicism, and thought. And for as much as Barth spoke of and pointed toward Christ he seemed to know Him very little. Certain it is that Barth's theology is not biblical; it is Barthian. Topped off by perhaps the most important negative of all, his life-long adulterous relationship with his research assistant/partner, now confirmed by Barth's own children decades after the publishing of this biography.
Barth was brilliant, not the flawed brilliance like that from a marred diamond, but a useless brilliance, like a bright light pointed in the exact wrong direction. For the discerning reader, Busch shows us this clearly....more
