May 2024 Book Notes
It's all About Time!
Welcome to another edition of Book Notes. Our May edition centers on the theme of time. Barth's theology of time is one of the more fascinating elements of his work, and we are pleased to share a few fairly recent studies that explore this important topic.
Paul Dafydd Jones, Patience—A Theological Exploration: Part One, From Creation to Christ (New York: T&T Clark, 2022), xii–546. (Paperback)
We begin with Patience by theologian Paul Dafydd Jones. This work does not exclusively focus on Barth but incorporates Barth into the frame of Jones’ overarching argument. Jones probes what it means to persevere in certain instances and to reject perseverance in favor of disruptive actions in others. Jones answers by offering a theological account of God’s patience within God’s saving work, which connects to a particular mode of engaging time.
Patience is only the first installment of Jones's multi-volume project. In this first volume, Jones explores both the biblical witness and constructive theological voices from ancient, medieval, and contemporary figures that illustrate the difficulty and complexity of discussing patience. Nonetheless, Jones locates the theme of patience at the center of God's redemptive work and critically engages numerous topics, including ancient Israel, sin, and Scripture.
In building his robust account of patience, Jones critically engages with and builds upon the modern theological work of Barth. Barth’s account of patience (Church Dogmatics II.1) focuses primarily on patience as a perfection or an attribute of God. Jones offers a helpful interpretation of patience that he locates inside of God’s perfection. This attribute of God opens time and space for the creature to be a creature and "heed God's directives" (212). God's patience is an expression of God's time enveloping our own. In Barth’s own view, God's patience makes room for human action such that God's patience affirms creaturely reality.
Patience is an excellent contribution to the field of theological studies. Jones incorporates Barth into a larger theological conversation about patience, which has vast implications for studies on the doctrine of God and Christian ethics.
L. Ann Jervis, Paul and Time: Life in the Temporality of Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2023), ix–168. (Hardcover)
Our second book brings Barth's theology of time into conversation with the Apostle Paul. In Paul and Time, L. Ann Jervis reevaluates Paul’s theology of the already and not yet. This classic distinction should be familiar to those versed in recent New Testament apocalyptic interpretations of Paul’s theology. The problem with this traditional account of a “two-age” temporality is that, for Jervis, it does not sufficiently account for the saving event of Christ's resurrection. Instead, the ages overlap in Christ. Thus, believers in Christ live in the already-not-yet age. As such, the changes that believers in Christ experience in conversion are not sequentially tensed. In short, past, present, and future exist simultaneously in the believer's present.
In addition to Paul, Jervis engages many philosophical and theological sources to establish a basic grammar for time that will serve as the background to engaging Paul's theology of time. It is in this early part of the book that Barth's theology appears. Jervis will privilege Barth's account of time as one that reflects Paul's emphasis more clearly. Jervis draws from Barth's famed and complex quote, “the presence of Jesus Christ is God’s time for us” (Church Dogmatics I.2, 45). Barth’s theology of time complements Jervis's perspective on Paul: a new time (Christ time) is available for believers in Christ.
Jervis makes a compelling argument that will reward careful readers. With clear prose, she writes in a way that offers the best scholarship without terse scholarly vernacular. As such, both scholars and students alike will profit richly from this text.
Mark James Edwards, Christ is Time: The Gospel According to Karl Barth (and the Red Hot Chili Peppers) (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022), x–154. (Paperback)
Our final book for this edition of Book Notes is my personal favorite. In Christ is Time, Mark James Edwards offers an engaging introduction to theology, primarily utilizing the theology of Karl Barth and popular rock music. The title borrows its name from Barth’s concept of time, which is also central to Jervis’ work mentioned above. Christ is Time originates from Edwards’s lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary where he teaches. This text performs an essential service for Barth studies; it provides an exhaustive distillment of Barth's theology on key questions in philosophical and systematic theology such as Christology, the doctrine of the Trinity, and prayer. However, the most compelling element of this introduction is that Barth's theological wisdom finds an interesting conversation partner in rock music. For example, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who find top billing in the title with Barth, prove to offer a popular, approachable language that clarifies and simplifies complex themes in Barth’s theology.
Chapter divisions are not only divided by topic, but each chapter provides a treatment of at least one unique rock song. The chosen song serves as a companion to each chapter that introduces the reader to a unique theme in Barth's theology. Edwards even provides a song track progress bar so the reader knows when to stop reading the book to listen to the song and then when to return to the book. This approach enables a different kind of immersive engagement with a book that piques the imagination and engages other sensory parts for the reader.
I have used this book in introductory theology classes and upper-level courses on Karl Barth. In both contexts, the book was popular among students. It is an imaginative book that serves a variety of readers. Scholars should aspire to this whimsical engagement with theology that excites a broader, non-specialized audience. This text can and should be read widely as a different model of theological engagement today.
In conclusion, I cannot recommend these books highly enough. They illustrate the breadth of work being explored currently in Barth studies. In these three texts alone, readers will find a constructive work concerning the attributes of God, a rich exegetical account of a Pauline concept of time, and an in-depth description of Barth's theology using popular culture as an interpretive key. If you have the time, pick up these three volumes and immerse yourself in these rich conversations.
Thank you for reading, and I will see you next month for another installment of Book Notes. If you have a book you would like to see included in our monthly reviews, please email me at hank.spaulding@ptsem.edu.
— Hank Spaulding, Editorial Assistant