ABSTRACT
In 'The Doctrine of Reconciliation', Karl Barth takes a new tack in dealing with problems of human and divine agency, though the direction he now takes is intended to deal with some issues that surface earlier in the Dogmatics. The final volume of the Church Dogmatics, 'The Doctrine of Reconciliation', is the longest, and arguably the most vivid of the four volumes of Barth's great work. Barth's effort here aims at depicting the one act of God in Jesus Christ from four points of view: as justification, as sanctification, as prophecy, and as ethics. In discussing the gathering of the community, Barth insists, the role of the Holy Spirit stands at the centre of attention, because, while the gathering of the Christian community takes place by virtue of the history of Jesus Christ Himself, that history comes to enclose within it the history of other human beings through the action of the Holy Spirit.
