The Austin Dogmatics: 1957-1958

The Austin Dogmatics brought the theology of Karl Barth to the United States in an accessible and forceful statement of the most exciting theology of the day. In addition the yearlong course of lectures proposed a radical theology of Christian mission and ministry to the American churches that grew from the authors three years of working in the inner city. While at times hammering home a single point the lectures often flower into a passionate homiletical style that is still captivating half a century later. Publication of the Austin Dogmatics fills a gap in American theological history. In 1963 the author published The Secular Meaning of the Gospel which the press identified with the death of God movement. While the author denied the association the Austin Dogmatics explains how he moved from the strict Barthianism of his early period to the linguistic analysis of his middle period. His late and perhaps most important work that lay ahead was yet in another direction entirely making van Buren one of the most versatile and adventuresome American theologians of the second half of the twentieth century. The current publication includes personal reminiscences by friends and colleagues after the authors passing. This hitherto unpublished cycle of early career lectures makes absorbing reading for those interested in the reception of Barths theology as well as for those concerned with constructive doctrinal work . . . Here we catch a glimpse of how [a] deep admiration for Barths theological achievement inspired [van Buren] to a vigorous practical dogmatics. --John Webster Professor at University of Aberdeen Paul van Buren was Assistant Professor of Theology at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest (1957-1960) when he wrote the Austin Dogmatics and Associate Professor there (1960-1964) when he wrote The Secular Meaning of the Gospel. He was later Professor of Religion at Temple University (1964-1986) when he wrote the trilogy A Theology of the Jewish-Christian Reality. Ellen Charry is the Margaret W. Harmon Professor of Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Her most recent book is God and the Art of Happiness (2010).