You should know that I am very disappointed in this [blog] effort. I am a professional writer. I do free lance for a California magazine and have authored well over 5,000 articles and monographs. I preached for 14 years and know how to put my thoughts into words, how to motivate. I know what it means to "preach with a view to persuasion" and am capable of doing this, effectively.
But putting my thoughts, my faith, in writing, in this particular format, on a level that merits my claimed partnership with Karl Barth, has proven to be the most difficult assignment I have ever given to myself.
Understand, that I have no problem reading Barth. I think in dialectic and read his Dogmatics with a certain ease. I have studied the pastor's work for eight years, and believe that I know his most fundamental considerations as well as anyone. On this last point, I am saying that I can be predictive of a Barthian position, even before reading what this good man had to say. Arrogance, on my part ?? I certainly hope not. Rather, it is confidence that in the notion that, after several years, I find myself in the same thoughtful "grove" as the great pastor.
I am qualified as an author. I am studied in the writings of Barth. I am at ease with his dialectic presentation. And I share in his conclusions . . . . all of them (thus far). So why is writing at a level that does not detract from his legacy and credits God with the challenges of his (God's) revelation to man, so very difficult to accomplish?
"Dufus" comes to mind. I would admit my intellectual immaturity, quit with this high toned assignment and move on if it weren't for my children. But my children need to know of this reformed opinion. Because of my exposure to the writing of Barth, I have come to the conclusion that God functions and thinks and communicates within the context of the dialectic. And while you might not know precisely what I mean by that statement, understand that I do, and it is the single most impelling contribution I see in Barth. I just cannot seem to share that knowledge on a level that merits your enthusiasm I fear.
After 5 years of trying, I am on the verge of admitting that I cannot write in such a way as to as to command your attention, much less the attention of my own children.
Rather than surrender to the obvious, I have decided to give it one more try. I am looking at two months worth of concerted effort, reading and rewriting what is already been recorded here, at Barth and the Boyz.
You will see the word "finis" at the end of any article I have reviewed and consider to be satisfactory. There are more than 250 articles. I have reviewed and rewritten three of them.
I am going to leave off the "down home" style of writing often used, believing that it is too much of a contrast with the thoughts I am attempting to present. There is nothing about God's revelation, in the context of Barth and the dialectic, that is common place, and, "down home" is just that, commonplace colloquialism . . . . commonplace and out of place.
Look for "finis." My children will have to live this final effort.
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