Dogmatics in Outline
Barth's 1947 'Dogmatik im Grundriss' — accessible summary of Church Dogmatics, delivered in bombed Bonn
Tradition: Reformed dialectical theology / neo-orthodoxy
Barth's 1946 Bonn lectures — Apostles' Creed walked through as the structure of Christian dogma
Delivered as a semester course of lectures at the bombed-out University of Bonn in summer semester 1946 (the first post-war semester — Bonn had been heavily bombed during the war; the lectures were given in the only building still standing, the Hörsaal in the cellar of the former university), and published in 1947 as 'Dogmatik im Grundriss', this short book is Barth's accessible summary of the Christian dogmatic faith for the immediate post-war German Protestant community. Barth had been forced into exile from Bonn in 1935 (he had refused to take the oath of loyalty to Hitler that was required of state-employed academics; he returned to Basel, his Swiss hometown, and taught there until 1962); the 1946 return to Bonn for one summer semester was a deliberate gesture of rebuilding. The book walks through the Apostles' Creed in 24 lectures, treating each credal article in turn: 'I believe in God' (Lectures 1-2); 'the Father Almighty' (3-4); 'Maker of heaven and earth' (5); 'and in Jesus Christ' (6-8); 'His only Son' (9); 'our Lord' (10); 'who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary' (11); 'suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried' (12-13); 'He descended into hell. The third day He rose again' (14); 'He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God' (15); 'from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead' (16); 'I believe in the Holy Ghost' (17); 'the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints' (18-19); 'the forgiveness of sins' (20); 'the resurrection of the body' (21); 'and the life everlasting' (22); plus introduction and conclusion. The lectures are far more accessible than the massive Church Dogmatics (Barth was simultaneously working on Church Dogmatics III/1 — the doctrine of creation, published 1945) and remain the standard short introduction to Barth's mature dogmatic theology.
Author
Editions cited
- Dogmatik im Grundriss (Theologischer Verlag Zürich / Evangelischer Verlag, Zollikon-Zürich, 1947)
- English translation: G. T. Thomson, Dogmatics in Outline (SCM Press, London, 1949; Harper Torchbooks reprint 1959; many subsequent editions)
- Companion: Church Dogmatics, 4 vols in 13 parts (T&T Clark, 1936-1969); Credo: A Presentation of the Chief Problems of Dogmatics with Reference to the Apostles' Creed (1935, earlier creedal-lecture series)
- Critical context: Eberhard Busch, Karl Barth: His Life from Letters and Autobiographical Texts (Eerdmans, 1976; English trans. 1994)
School Embodiments
Mature Reformed-dialectical theology.
"I believe in God the Father Almighty." (Dogmatics in Outline, ch. 1, on the first article)
Strong confessional-Christian framework — Apostles' Creed as structure.
"The Christian creed as the structure of dogma." (Dogmatics in Outline, organisation)
Strong scriptural framework throughout.
"Scripture is the principal source." (Dogmatics in Outline, ch. 1)
Engages philosophical questions of religion within the dogmatic frame.
"Faith is no human achievement but God's gift." (Dogmatics in Outline)
Neo-orthodox tradition.
Internal Tensions
The standard short Barth — gateway to the Church Dogmatics for several generations. Continuously read in seminary and university teaching as the accessible introduction to Barth's mature dogmatic position; one of the most-translated twentieth-century Protestant-theological works.
I. Time
1946 lectures; 1947 publication. Barth was 60.
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II. Space
Bombed Bonn — the University of Bonn was largely in ruins from Allied bombing; the lectures were given in the basement Hörsaal of the destroyed main building. Barth had returned from his Swiss exile for the symbolic post-war rebuilding semester.
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III. Matter
Single short lecture-based book (~150 pages in standard English translation). Form is 24 lectures walking through the Apostles' Creed.
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IV. Observer
Late-middle Barth. The observer-theologian is at the height of his post-war international authority, simultaneously working on the massive Church Dogmatics and addressing the immediate German post-war pastoral situation.
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V. Energy
Reconstructive-dogmatic energies of postwar Germany. The lectures are at once theological exposition and pastoral rebuilding-gesture.
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VI. Information
Single accessible book. The 24-lecture structure mirrors the Apostles' Creed.
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The work's attribute fingerprint scored against all schools using the same quiz scorer. Useful as a sanity check on the hand-curated embodiments above.
How Dogmatics in Outline resolves each dilemma
51 resolved positions across 4 dimensions, including 3 distinctive where the majority of schools go the other way · 6 unaligned.
Each dimension is sorted so minority positions come first. Mainstream positions are folded into an expandable list.
Time · 9 dilemmas · 3 distinctive
Persistence, the future, and the direction of becoming.