Introduction by Colin E. Gunton

Interest in Karl Barth is running at unprecedented levels in the English-speaking world, and it is high time that his excellent survey of formative eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Protestant thinkers be made available again to theological students and general readers.

Featuring an extensive introduction by Colin E. Gunton that recontextualizes and reintroduces Barth's work for a new generation, this book provides a superb review of the shapers of modern Protestant thought and practice. Barth offers insightful readings of all the most significant figures of the modern period -- Rousseau, Lessing, Kant, Hegel, Schleiermacher, Feuerbach, Ritschl, and others -- as well as several lesser-known thinkers. Also included here are Barth's preface to the original 1946 German edition and a translation of his hard-to-find essay "On the Task of a History of Modern Protestant Theology."

In addition to providing insight into some of the church's seminal theologians, this volume offers an excellent look at Barth himself. In capturing Barth's personal views on doctrine, the church, and intellectual history, the book also provides valuable background reading for those studying Barth's own theology.