ABSTRACT
It is assuredly no exaggeration to claim that no one more strongly influenced the theology of the twentieth century than the Swiss Karl Barth (1886–1968). A Reformed theologian, he not only left his mark on Protestant theology, but was read and commented on by leading Catholic theologians too. More than anyone else, he came to represent the clash with the neo-Protestant theology of the nineteenth century and with its doctrinal “father,” Schleiermacher. He vigorously attacked the neo-Protestant tendency to place the human person and human religiosity at the center of theology. He reacted by calling theology and the church back to what theology is really about, namely, God. In Barth’s thinking, God and his revelation in Jesus Christ are the central theme of theological reflection. Another special characteristic of this theology is the close link between theology and the church, which is understood as the real subject of theology.
