Ad Limina Apostolorum - Paperback

by Karl Barth (Author), Keith R. Crim (Translator)

Karl Barth, because of poor health, was unable to accept the invitation to be an observer at the final two sessions of Vatican II. When his condition improved, however, he was eager to make a trip to Rome to learn firsthand how the Council decisions were understood at the heart of Catholicism. The Secretariat for Christian Unity readily agreed, and so Barth made his pilgrimage ""to the threshold of the Apostles"" September 22-29, 1966. Included here are an account of Barth's trip to Rome, questions for clarification and critical questions he asked, an essay about the Constitution on Divine Revelation, a letter on Mariology to a German Catholic theologian, and an appendix on Barth's thoughts about Vatican II before its work was completed. He calls for Protestants to take a lesson from the stirrings of renewal within the Roman Church and ""sweep away the dust before the door of our own church with a careful but nevertheless mighty broom.""

Author Biography

Karl Barth (1886-1968), the Swiss Reformed professor and pastor, was once described by Pope Pius XII as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas. As principal author of The Barmen Declaration, he was the intellectual leader of the German Confessing Church--the Protestant group that resisted the Third Reich. Barth's teaching career spanned nearly five decades. Removed from his post at Bonn by the Nazis in late 1934, Barth moved to Basel where he taught until 1962. Among Barth's many books, sermons, and essays are The Epistle to the Romans, Humanity of God, Evangelical Theology, and Church Dogmatics.