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The theologian who labors without joy is not a theologian at all. Sulky faces, morose thoughts and boring ways of speaking are intolerable in this field.

Karl Barth

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Karl Barth
Age: 82 †
Born: 1886
Born: May 10
Died: 1968
Died: December 10
Pastor
Theologian
University Teacher
Basle
Without
Boring
Way
Field
Labor
Sulky
Fields
Morose
Thoughts
Labors
Joy
Intolerable
Ways
Theologian
Faces
Speaking

More quotes by Karl Barth

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The Devil may also make use of morality.
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'joy' in Phillippians is a defiant 'Nevertheless!' that Paul sets like a full stop against the Philippians' anxiety.
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Mozart's music is free of all exaggeration, of all sharp breaks and contradictions. The sun shines but does not blind, does not burn or consume. Heaven arches over the earth, but it does not weigh it down, it does not crush or devour it.
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To be a Christian and to pray are one and the same thing it is a matter that cannot be left to our caprice. It is a need, a kind of breathing necessary to life.
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The statement that 'God is dead' comes from Nietzsche and has recently been trumpeted abroad by some German and American theologians. But the good Lord has not died of this He who dwells in the heaven laughs at them.
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There will be no song on our lips if there be no anguish in our hearts.
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The Christian Church does not exist in Heaven, but on earth and in time.
Karl Barth
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In dogmatics our question is: What are we to think and say?
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Sin is not confined to the evil things we do. It is the evil within us, the evil which we are.
Karl Barth
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The person who knows only his side of the argument knows little of that.
Karl Barth
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Dogmatics is the testing of Church doctrine and proclamation.
Karl Barth
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Mozart creates music from a mysterious center, and so knows the limits to the right and the left, above and below. He maintains moderation.
Karl Barth
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We must read the Bible through the eyes of shipwrecked people for whom everything has gone overboard.
Karl Barth
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No act of man can claim to be more than an attempt, not even science.
Karl Barth
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When we speak of our virtues we are competitors, when we confess our sins we become brothers.
Karl Barth
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The enterprise of Adolf Hitler, with all its clatter and fireworks, and all its cunning and dynamic energy, is the enterprise of an evil spirit, which is apparently allowed its freedom for a time in order to test our faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Karl Barth
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The Spirit bears witness. Ecstasy and enlightenment, inspiration and intuition are not necessary. Happy is the man who is worthy of these but woe unto us if we wait for such experiences woe unto us if we do not perceive that these things are of secondary importance.
Karl Barth
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Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is himself the way.
Karl Barth
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I take the Bible far too seriously to take it literally.
Karl Barth
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Man can certainly flee from God... but he cannot escape him. He can certainly hate God and be hateful to God, but he cannot change into its opposite the eternal love of God which triumphs even in his hate.
Karl Barth