I am trying to decide if I should buy it? I have the platinum collection.
I've had various volumes of it turn up in searches lately and was quite glad to find out more about its contents that way. It was always something I drooled over in the print form whenever I went into the bookstore at my seminary and saw it on the sale shelf, where it resided permanently. I thought it was one of those works that a theologically educated person ought to own. But even with the substantial discount, I couldn't justify the still hefty price. It was just so bulky and I knew I'd never sit down and read through it. But I finally got up the gumption to buy it in Logos last April (when it was on sale) and I've not regretted the purchase.
You can "look inside" most of the volumes on Amazon.com and get a preview of some of the content: http://amzn.to/hrRqfU
I don't want to know what the sale price was last April, as it would probably be painful. But I wonder if some of you deal hunters out there could tell us if there is any way to know if it would ever be on sale again?
It depends on what you use your Logos 4 - it's essential if you have an interest in recent theological thought - regardless of your denomination.
It's been on sale for two weeks through Feb 4th--Limited-Time Sale Price: $574.95 (Use coupon code L4BARTH).
Heh, he, he ! I paid $302.95 in April of 2008.
From an article I read recently,
"American evangelicals have been skeptical of Barth because he refused to consider the written Word "infallible" (he believed only Jesus was). Others gave up on Barth's theology because it overemphasized God's transcendance (to the point that some former Barthians began championing the "death of God"). Nonetheless, he remains the most important theologian of the twentieth century".
I'm not trying to start a theological debate here; I just want to understand what kind of books i should have in my library. But as an American evangelical how would it help to have this in my library? From everything I hear I should. But it would be helpful to understand why, especially when he holds important theological positions different from what I have grown to understand (I've also heard he was not clear on salvation and could be construed as believing in "universalism").
As Don Corleone (I think) said, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." One either basis, Barth should be in your library.
I really have trouble with the idea of paying Logos more than double for the electronic version, when I can buy it on paper locally for $250 (and I actually get 20% off that.)
Especially for big ticket items like this you should always contact Sales and see if they can give you a better deal on it than what is advertised. They often can, even if there's a listed sale price, more likely so if you've spent a lot on Logos products over the years.
It's been on sale for two weeks through Feb 4th--Limited-Time Sale Price: $574.95 (Use coupon code XXXXXXX).
I'm sure it was an innocent well-meaning mistake on your part, but we have been requested not to post coupon codes on the forums. See the last bullet point under point 4 in the Forum Guidelines. If it's within about 10 hours of your post (which it is as I'm writing this), you can still edit it (click the More button beside your post and select Edit) and remove that reference.
"American evangelicals have been skeptical of Barth because he refused to consider the written Word "infallible" (he believed only Jesus was). Others gave up on Barth's theology because it overemphasized God's transcendance (to the point that some former Barthians began championing the "death of God"). Nonetheless, he remains the most important theologian of the twentieth century". I'm not trying to start a theological debate here; I just want to understand what kind of books i should have in my library. But as an American evangelical how would it help to have this in my library? From everything I hear I should. But it would be helpful to understand why, especially when he holds important theological positions different from what I have grown to understand (I've also heard he was not clear on salvation and could be construed as believing in "universalism").
I'd like to refer you to my comments about Barth in another thread; the pastor I referred to in that thread, Earl Palmer, is thoroughly evangelical and would heartily recommend Barth to American evangelicals: http://community.logos.com/forums/p/17115/129482.aspx#129482
Here is some more on the Barth/Brunner debate on Natural Theology which I referred to in that post.
Oops; my apologies; I guess it is too late to edit it. thanks for the links Rosie.
Thanks Rosie. I just did, and he did. Downloading now! Yeehaaaa.
My sympathies too. I purchased the new version (with the Latin and Greek translated into English), which is the version available in Logos, in paperback for only $200 last year. Why pay almost 3X that to have it eletcronically. Especially when I consider Barth a writer who must be assessed only through familiarity with the largest context of his writings. Because of his writing style (virtually thinking out loud) quotations can often be misleading. And electronic searches fully increase the likelhood of doing so and never understanding his complete thought process. Barth should be READ more than SEARCHED.
John, if I only owned the platinum collection, I would look at making sure there weren't more useful resources I needed before putting down the money for Barth. I have currently spent twice the amount of the platinum collection on additional resources to the platinum collection and I still will not buy Barth at this time. But I am working on a THD degree and I have found other resources much more helpful than Barth at that price. However, I would be considered a conservative, and that is part of the reason I have not spent my money on Barth at this time. However, I must admit some day I would love to have the set!
In Christ,
Jim
I have found other resources much more helpful than Barth at that price.
I'd say it always depends on what your working on specifically - it might be that there are resources more helpful for your THD, while Barth's Church Dogmatics would be exactly what others could use.
And have you ever tried to weigh up the price to the six million words (!) Barth's Church Dogmatics consist of? I'd say, this is still a good deal, though I think the electronic edition really shouldn't be more expensive than the printed version.
I would be considered a conservative, and that is part of the reason I have not spent my money on Barth at this time.
Barth himself was considered "conservative" (whatever this might mean in detail ...), as the English labeling of Barth being "neo-orthodox" already indicates. So it shouldn't be too difficult for conservatives to embrace Barth's theology to a certain degree.
While I totally understand that every single Logos-user has different interests, needs, limited budgets etc. and thus has every right to choose not to spend their money for Barth [:)], I don't think theological preferences should have the last word when it comes to theologians like Barth. We're not talking about simply another theologian here. There's no doubt Barth was one of the (if not "the") most important thinkers of the 20th century, so whether one considers oneself as conservative, liberal, moderate, orthodox, progressive or whatever - you simply won't understand a good part of today's theological discourse unless you've come to know Barth's writings.
whether one considers oneself as conservative, liberal, moderate, orthodox, progressive or whatever - you simply won't understand a good part of today's theological discourse unless you've come to know Barth's writings.
Wow, that's thought provoking. Thanks for the perspective.
I agree with most or the comments made here by Theolobias, but as I stated there are still other resources more important to me and that was my whole point, that you should make sure the same is not true for you before laying out those dollars for one resource. I would disagree that Barth would be considered a conservative but that does not mean that I do not enjoy reading his comments and agree with him in many areas.
One of my points would be to make sure you have all the language tools and and historical background materials you need to study the scriptures themselves and have good resources on understanding hermeneutics and interpretation before you spend all that money on Barth, these things will help you to understand some one like Barth when you read him. They will also help you to understand any other theology books you may buy.
I am on a tight budget, I would actually really like to own Barth, but I also want the most bang for my buck. It is very easy for me to take a resource like Barth's and see a lot of usefulness in it and be tempted to buy it, until I look at my library as a whole and see what I could get if I spent the same money on other resources. My library at this time is getting more ready for Barth, but for me Barth has not come out on top yet, but someday I would love to have him, of course not before such resources as NICOT/NICNT for example.
Jim VanSchoonhoven
Theolobias, please don't get me wrong I would love to own Barth, but he is only another theologian, although a very important one. Of course he would not agree with this statement, but all of his theology needs to be judged by what the scriptures have to say on the subject.
Of course each of us are different and have different priorities, but as a conservative my desire to lean about theology should be based on the scriptures, and that is why I believe it is good for each of us to have a good library to help us to understand what the scriptures say and means before spending big dollars on such theologians as Barth. The scriptures should be our standard to compare each theologian to. In my opinion the Platinum library does not do this well enough and I believe needs some resources added to it before Barth!
I to have a desire to own Barth's works, and apparently most people on this thread do too! I wanted to simply give another point of view, to give other options. Language tools and background resources, more works on hermeneutics would be a few of the areas I believe would be more helpful than Barth, but I am one of those that take a little higher view of the scriptures than Barth did.
Hi John,
Wouldn't "should buy" depend on how often you'd use it if you had it?
why I believe it is good for each of us to have a good library to help us to understand what the scriptures say and means
This statement is true but we would likely interpret it differently. I have seen many people interpret the Scripture based on the original languages who are clearly parroting back what someone taught them - without any understanding of how languages work. [Note: it was not in this forum] For many of us, the best way to learn how to interpret Scripture is to watch someone do it.This may include how Barth interprets Scripture. I will admit that I am still baffled that the OP asked if he should own Barth but failed to tell us how he uses Logos and what his interests are. Net result: I'd not advise him one way or the other but would comment that Barth is foundational to the last century and should be read by everyone with a theological bent.
With CD on sale again I thought this might be the time to get in on it. But as I thought about it even though so many superlatives are used to describe him and this work I couldn't figure out why I needed it and how I would use it. So that is why I turned to the collective wisdom of the forum maybe to uncover a real need though not a felt need at this point.
Jim,
Don't worry - I get your point and, as I already said, totally understand that limited budgets make it necessary to trade of one resource against another or a lot of others. If you're working on some special theological project or try to first build a basic library for e.g. language study, then Barth's Church Dogmatics will often have to wait - no doubt here. So, please don't feel impelled to spend your money on something you can't afford!
However, if someone's interested in Systematic theology trying to build a library for general use that will have an enduring value for times to come, Barth's Church Dogmatics can hardly be overrated, and I would gladly waive 90 percent of any Logos Base Package to have an opus magnum like this. What you get here isn't just one theology you like or don't like and therefore can be easily replaced by another - Barth's Church Dogmatics is an encounter with 2000 years of theological thinking, it can be used as a reference work, for detailed studies on practically every single dogmatic issue one can think of etc.
And, for what it's worth, I'd disagree about Barth having not the highest view of scriptures. Of course, one can hardly name any important German speaking theologian of the last two hundred years supporting a view of scriptures comparable to something like let's say the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, since this is mainly a matter of North American theological thinking, having been unable to prevail in Europe for several reasons. That doesn't mean there aren't other ways to express the scriptures' "ultimate authority" - and that's somehing Barth clearly does. I can't think of any other theological work dealing this extensively with scriptures. In fact, one will often find Barth doing nothing less than interpreting scriptures for dozens of pages, whereas others might shortly point out two or three passages they haven't even thought through in context.
Thus said - I hope you'll be able to get the best possible library fitting your needs, be it with or without Barth! I'd love to buy the Church Dogmatics by myself - but, as you said, this is a lot of money - and I already own the German print edition. Maybe I would give this another thought if there were a German edition for Logos, but I guess this will never happen ...
Blessings,
Tobias
You're welcome, John! For everyone who can't afford to purchase Barth's Church Dogmatics but wants a good introduction to his thinking, I highly recommend reading Barth's "Dogmatics in Outline" which you can get for a couple of bucks. Now that I think of it, I'd really like Logos to offer this as an electronic edition!!!
This is a question geared towards those who already own the resource in Logos.
I understand that Logos' edition is based on the most recent edition out on the market right now, which is this 31 volume edition: http://www.christianbook.com/church-dogmatics-31-volumes/karl-barth/9780567022790/pd/22790X?item_code=WW&netp_id=544410&event=ESRCN&view=details
From Logos: "This is the newly revised, forthcoming edition of Barth's Church Dogmatics, which reflects the work of a team of leading experts at Princeton Theological Seminary's Center for Barth Studies. It is not currently available in print. The text is presented in a new, user friendly format, and all Greek and Latin passages will include English translation alongside the original."
With that being said, does CD in Logos follow that edition's volume and page numbers, or is it still based on the older edition's 14 volume text?
Available Now
Build your biblical library with a new trusted commentary or resource every month. Yours to keep forever.
