Title: Barth's ethics of reconciliation
First published: 1995
Description: John Webster provides a major scholarly analysis, the first in any language, of the final sections of the Church Dogmatics. He focuses on the theme of human agency in Barth's late ethics and doctrine of baptism, placing the discussion in the context of an interpretation of the Dogmatics as an intrinsically ethical dogmatics.

The first two chapters survey the themes of agency, covenant, and human reality in the Dogmatics as a whole; later chapters give a thorough analysis of Church Dogmatics IV/4 and the posthumously published text The Christian Life. A final chapter examines the significance of Barth's work for contemporary accounts of moral selfhood.

The book is important not only for a detailed analysis of a neglected part of Barth's oeuvre, but also because it casts into question much of what has hitherto been written about Barth's ethical dogmatics.
Subjects: Christian ethics, History, Morale chrétienne, Verzoening, Ethik, Histoire, Kirchliche Dogmatik (Barth, Karl), Christelijke ethiek, Barth, karl, 1886-1968
People: Karl Barth (1886-1968)
Time periods: 20th century
LC classification: BT75.B286 W43 1995