From 1926 to 1936 Rudolf Bultmann offered an introductory course in theology, which he continually revised and refined. Finally published posthumously, and now available in English for the first time, WHAT IS THEOLOGY? presents a clear compendium of the theology of a member of one of this century's rare number of giant scholars.

Eberhard Jungel is one of the world's most creative Christian thinkers. This is his first explicit examination of the relationship between theology and politics, between the church and state or, as he himself puts it, of 'the political existence of the Christian'. This examination takes the form of a critical theological analysis of the Barmen Theological Declaration - the courageous statement of faith produced in Germany in 1934 in the face of the rise of National Socialism. Jungel explores in particular the fifth thesis, which concerns the state's God-given responsibility to safeguard justice and peace. One of the significant characteristics of this book is its concern to integrate the serious, academic commitment of theology in the service of truth with its necessary existential relationship to the pulpit. Without a coherent grasp of this the church degenerates into a 'characterless club for the cultivation of religion' while academic theology is reduced to a form of spineless irrelevance which shirks its responsibilities to the real world. Jungel's concern is to offer a theology in which rigorous theological commitment and the spiritual life of the church are intergrated. This refreshing book makes significant contributions to the debate concerning the question of natural theology and divine decree, the Lutheran doctrine of the two regiments (kingdoms), the theological grounds of human rights, the ethics of the use of force by the state, the implications for just war theory of the nuclear capability and a whole range of other vital contemporary issues.

"Intelligent and orthodox, subtle and strong, 'God as the Mystery of the World' is a masterpiece which should at last make its author as familiar in the English-speaking world as he has long deserved to be." - Geoffrey Wainwright "Jungel sets out in this work to establish a basis for a theology of God the crucified while avoiding the shoals of theism and atheism. He warns of the danger, rooted in the fact that modernity no longger dares to think God, of talking God to death, of silencing God with too much God-talk. He analyzes what our possibilities are of thinking and speaking God and concludes that theology has to become the narrative of God's humanity, told like every love story. . . . This is a stimulating but demanding book. It helps theology move forward again in its quest really to say what it talks about when it talks about God." - H. M. Rumscheidt

Covering the major topics in Christian dogmatics and philosophical theology, this work includes a comprehensive survey of Jungel's own theology; interpretative studies of Kierkegaard and the work of Heinrich Vogel; dogmatic studies of the historical Jesus, the hiddenness of God, the sacrifice of Christ, justification and ethics, aesthetics and theological anthropology. Throughout, the work is characterised by Jungel's acute analysis of texts and themes in theology and philosophy, and by lively engagement with the intellectual heritage of modernity.

Eberhard Jungel is widely recognised as one of the most important and original theologians of the twentieth-century. Although his essays comprise some of his best critical and constructive writing, few have been available in English. These eight essays have been carefully chosen to illustrate the wide range of Jungel's current concerns - the ontological implications of the doctrine of justification, the nature of metaphorical and anthropomorphic language, theological anthropology, Christology and ecclesiology, and natural theology.

This significant work, precipitated by the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Joint Declaration on the doctrine of justification, represents Eberhard Jungel's most sustained theological writing for some time. Jungel examines the role of justification in Christian faith - and emphasises its central importance. He traces the history of the concept of 'justice' in Greek thought, and of the Old Testament parallel concept 'righteousness'. He then moves on to a consideration of the righteousness of God in its Christian context, and in particular to God's righteousness in Christ. A major contribution to theological discussion is found in his fresh and fearless treatment of the unfashionable topic of sin. Throughout the work, Jungel constantly interacts with the great Catholic and Protestant thinkers, his skill as a theologian matched by his insight as a philosopher.

Starting with an analysis of the close relation of Trinity and revelation in Barth, Jungel goes on to look at Barth's action of divine objectivity in relation to human subjectivity. He closes with a discussion of the ontological implications of God's self-manifestation at the Cross. This translation of Jungel's Gottes Sein ist in Werden also incorporates material from the 1975 German edition, together with a substantial new introduction by Professor John Webster.

Jungel sets out to establish a basis for a theology of God the crucified while avoiding the shoals of theism and atheism. He warns of the danger, rooted in the fact that modernity no longer dares to think God, of talking God to death, of silencing God with too much God-talk. Jungel analyzes what our possibilities are of thinking and speaking God and concludes that theology has to become the narrative of God's humanity. This second book in the series helps the reader to gain a more explicit awareness of the contemporary issues Jungel's theology grapples with.

Karl Barths Schrift Fides quaerens intellectum von 1931 ist in doppelter Weise von grundlegender Bedeutung. Zum einen ist es das entscheidende Dokument der Entdeckung jener Denkbewegung, die in der Kirchlichen Dogmatik klassisch durchgefuhrt wurde. Barth hat sie als die der Theologie allein angemessene bezeichnet. Zum anderen bietet es eine wegweisende Analyse und Interpretation von Anselms Argument fur die Existenz Gottes im Proslogion, die keine Auseinandersetzung mit dieser beruhmten Vorform des ontologischen Gottesbeweises ignorieren kann. Damit gibt dieses Buch zugleich einen Schlussel zum Verstandnis von Barths theologischer Methode und zur Interpretation von Anselms Argumentation an die Hand. Ingolf U. Dalferth ist Ordinarius fur Systematische Theologie, Symbolik und Religionsphilosophie an der Theologischen Fakultat der Universitat Zurich. Eberhard Jungel, Dr. theol., Jahrgang 1934, studierte evangelische Theologie an den Kirchlichen Hochschulen in Naumburg/Saale und Berlin. Nach seiner Habilitation 1962 wurde er Dozent an der Kirchlichen Hochschule Berlin-Ost. Von 1966 bis 1969 war er Professor fur Systematische Theologie an der Universitat Zurich, anschliessend bis zu seiner Emeritierung Professor fur Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie an der Universitat Tubingen. Eberhard Jungel gilt als einer der bedeutendsten und wirkmachtigsten evangelischen Theologen unserer Zeit. Karl Barth (1886-1968) studierte Theologie in Bern, Berlin, Tubingen, Marburg und war von 1909 bis 1921 Pfarrer in Genf und Safenwil. Mit seiner Auslegung des Romerbriefes (1919, 1922) begann eine neue Epoche der evangelischen Theologie. Dieses radikale Buch trug ihm einen Ruf als Honorarprofessor nach Gottingen ein, spater wurde er Ordinarius in Munster und Bonn. Er war Mitherausgeber von Zwischen den Zeiten (1923-1933), der Zeitschrift der Dialektischen Theologie. Karl Barth war der Autor der Barmer Theologischen Erklarung und Kopf des Widerstands gegen die Gleichschaltung der Kirchen durch den Nationalsozialismus. 1935 wurde Barth von der Bonner Universitat wegen Verweigerung des bedingungslosen Fuhrereids entlassen. Er bekam sofort eine Professur in Basel, blieb aber mit der Bekennenden Kirche in enger Verbindung. Sein Hauptwerk, Die Kirchliche Dogmatik, ist die bedeutendste systematisch-theologische Leistung des 20. Jahrhunderts.