Epistle to the Romans

Karl Barth's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (Der Romerbrief) first appeared in Germany in 1918, and caused an immediate sensation. A second edition, corrected, enlarged, and reconsidered, followed in 1921, and four others by 1933. The familiar terms "Barthian" and "Barthianism" are an indication of the theological ferment started by the author's doctrine, both on the continent and in Britain and America. This remains a fundamental book book for a full understanding of Barthianism. Its thesis as those confronting Paul, were, at base, the same as those confronting the modern Christian preacher and theologian. Barth's book raises the whole Protestant argument anew in its special relation of the truth of the Bible to culture? What is the preacher to preach? When the translation appeared in 1933 Nazism was just coming to power in Germany. Throughout the Nazi period, and World War II and it's aftermath. Karl Barth from his Swiss homeland was a powerful influence in European and American theology, and as a leader of Christian thought. In 1968, at 82, he is universally honored and respected. The translator, the late Sir Edwin Hoskyns, was a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.