The McKrakenCast
Episodes
Tuesday Jan 26, 2021
Barth's "Göttingen Dogmatics" - §4: Man and His Question
Tuesday Jan 26, 2021
Tuesday Jan 26, 2021
The androcentric nature of Barth's language notwithstanding, in this section he addresses the human condition and the "contradiction" at the heart of our existence, as well as reflecting on how it can be that God encounters us in the midst of that contradiction as "the answer to our question" (Diktatsatz).
This is part 5 of a multi-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
I begin the audio recordings by reading Barth’s Diktatsatz, so I will begin reproducing that here as well. The bold is mine and indicates where I find emphasis:
God's revelation, which is the basis of Christian preaching, is the answer to our question how we can overcome the contradiction in our existence, which we have to view not as our destiny but as our responsible act, and which we know that we cannot overcome. But we know ourselves in this regard only as God makes himself known to us. We would not ask about God had God not already answered us. Because of this, we can neither evade the question about God nor settle it in any sense.
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Tuesday May 26, 2020
Barth's "Göttingen Dogmatics" - §3: Deus Dixit (“God has spoken”)
Tuesday May 26, 2020
Tuesday May 26, 2020
We return to Barth’s first dogmatics lectures, and to the elaboration of one of his key theological concepts – both in this earlier period as well as throughout his later Church Dogmatics, although there it recedes into the background a bit despite continuing to be of foundational importance: Deus dixit, God has spoken.
This is part 4 of a multi-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
I begin the audio recordings by reading Barth’s Diktatsatz, so I will begin reproducing that here as well. The bold is mine and indicates where I find emphasis:
Christian preachers dare to speak about God. The permission and requirement to do so can rest only on their adoption of the witness of the prophets and apostles that underlies the church, the witness which is to the effect that God himself has spoken and that for this reason, and with this reference, they too must speak about God. This assumption can arise only because they take it that God’s address is directed to them as well. It means that with fear and trembling they recognize God as the true subject of the biblical witness and their own proclamation.
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Monday Jan 13, 2020
Monday Jan 13, 2020
More on Barth’s first dogmatics lectures! This episode addresses the relationship between dogmatics and preaching. We get a number of Barth “greatest hits” – like an early form of his approach to the three-fold Word of God (revelation, scripture, and preaching), and his distinction between regular and irregular dogmatics. But the central issue is the relationship between God’s word and the human word of preaching. Also, I use the idea of Sachkritik to expand on Barth’s definition of theology.
This is part 3 of a multi-part series, and you can find the series index here. It is also available on YouTube. Make sure to subscribe via your preferred site.
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Tuesday Aug 13, 2019
Barth's "Göttingen Dogmatics" - §1: The Word of God as the Problem of Dogmatics
Tuesday Aug 13, 2019
Tuesday Aug 13, 2019
Continuing our dive into Karl Barth's first attempt at writing a dogmatics, this episode tackles the first section: The Word of God as the Problem of Dogmatics. He discusses what it means to think of dogmatics as a science, and we also encounter an early version of his doctrine of the three-fold Word of God (revelation, Scripture, and preaching). Barth also reflects on why he thinks a prolegomena is necessary when doing theology, and I riff a bit on his recommendations for how to go about studying theology. This is part 2 of a multi-part series, and you can find the series index here. It is also available on YouTube. Make sure to subscribe via your preferred site.=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Thursday Jul 18, 2019
Barth's "Göttingen Dogmatics" - Introduction
Thursday Jul 18, 2019
Thursday Jul 18, 2019
Travel with me back to the early 1920s and Karl Barth's first attempt at writing a dogmatics. Launched while teaching at the University of Göttingen, this was the genesis of the material that would become Church Dogmatics approximately a decade later. What we call the Göttingen Dogmatics in English is especially interesting to me because it is much closer to Barth's work as pastor-cum-socialist organizer. This is the first of a multi-part series, and it is the first series that I have produced primarily for the podcast medium. It is also available on YouTube. Make sure to subscribe via your preferred site. Find episode 2 here, and get the series index here.
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Friday Jun 28, 2019
Helmut Gollwitzer on Karl Barth and Socialism: An Excerpt
Friday Jun 28, 2019
Friday Jun 28, 2019
This is an excerpt from an essay by Helmut Gollwitzer about Karl Barth and socialism.
Available in video format.
==========================I write books! Check them out here.
I run a blog! Check it out here.
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Excerpt source: Helmut Gollwitzer, "Kingdom of God and Socialism in the Theology of Karl Barth," in George Hunsinger (ed., trans.), Karl Barth and Radical Politics, 2nd ed. (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017), 83-85.
Image source and attribution: Stiftung Haus der Geschichte [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)].
Monday Jun 24, 2019
John Calvin's Central Doctrine?
Monday Jun 24, 2019
Monday Jun 24, 2019
This is the third in a three-part series that I have done on How I Read John Calvin. Truth in advertising: Karl Barth makes an appearance (yes, again), but so does Francis Turretin!Hint: it's not predestination. You can access this content in video format.
Monday Jun 10, 2019
Congdon & McMaken - The Torres Interview
Monday Jun 10, 2019
Monday Jun 10, 2019
For this recording, David Congdon and I sat down (metaphorically) with Juan Torres for a wide-ranging interview about Dialectical Theology, universalism, religion and politics, and more.
Juan Torres on Twitter
David Congdon on Twitter
Travis McMaken on Twitter
Order Congdon's The God Who Saves
Order McMaken's Our God Loves Justice
This content is also available in video format on YouTube.
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
John Calvin and the Natural Knowledge of God (How I Read John Calvin, part 2)
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
This is part two in a three-part series on How I Read John Calvin. It tackles the issue of whether it is possible - within the context of Calvin's theology - to know God on the basis of human rationality and observation of the world. Truth in advertising: Karl Barth makes an appearance.
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
Helmut Gollwitzer: Forgotten Left-Wing Barthian
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
This is the live recording of my presentation to the Karl Barth Society of North America at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Boston (2017), with a brief, informal introduction by George Hunsinger.
Get my book on Gollwitzer here!