W. Gary Crampton, A Concise Theology of Karl Barth
(Whitefield Media, 2012): 103 pp.
Karl Barth is considered by many to be the most important
theologian of the twentieth century. His
massive, multi-volume Church Dogmatics
continues to be read and studied. Debate
also continues as to whether Barth was a friend or foe for evangelicals and
conservative Protestants.
Gary Crampton’s slim volume offers a concise summary, review,
and analysis of the broad outlines of Barth’s thought. He does so by reviewing Barth’s 1959 book Dogmatics in Outline, which offered a
synopsis of his theology through an exposition of the Apostles' Creed. In the
end, Crampton offers the following conclusion:
Karl Barth was surely one of the
twentieth century’s greatest thinkers.
Much of what he taught was in line with biblical Christianity. His
theological views are very profound, and well worth studying. As we have noted, however, Dr. Barth
championed a neo-orthodox theology that, in some parts, is clearly antithetical
to Reformed orthodox doctrine. When one
denies that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant God-breathed truth of the God
of Bible, he denies the authority of God Himself who speaks in Holy Scripture,
and, therefore, his conversion must be highly suspect. Neo-orthodoxy is not biblical Christianity,
and if followed to its logical conclusions it will lead one away from the true
teaching of the Word of God into an abyss of logical paradox and teachings which
are not in accord with the Word of God (p. 88).
Crampton’s book closes with an appendix titled “The Neo-Orthodoxy
of Donald Bloesch” (pp. 90-103) which analyzes
Bloesch’s efforts to find a supposed “middle ground” between Barth’s neo-orthodoxy
and evangelical orthodoxy in his two-volume Essentials
of Evangelical Theology. Crampton
argues that the result is a view of Scripture that is “errant and dangerous”
(p. 93). It leaves him “without an
epistemological foundation upon which to base his theology” (p. 90) and “mired in skepticism” (p. 103).
Crampton’s A Concise
Theology of Karl Barth is commended to any who desire an accessible introduction
to Barth’s theology from a traditional, Reformed perspective. It also provides a caution and warning against the appropriation of Barth’s theology among those who would hold a high, confessional
view of Scripture.
Jeffrey T. Riddle, Pastor, Christ Reformed Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Virginia.
