Synopsis: "These sermons were prepared from 1920 to 1924. Professor Barth preached some of them while he was minister of the Reformed congregation in Safenwil, Canton Aargau, Switzerland; others in the Reformed Church in Goettingen while he was professor of theology in the University. Pastor Thurneysen at that time preached to the congregation in Bruggen, near St. Gall, Switzerland. The sermons were written not for special occasions but for the regular Sunday morning service, and were addressed to such men and women as one will find in any village or city church--to men and women in the struggle for life, waiting and seeking for God. "Pastor Thurneysen selected the sermons and arranged them according to a scheme that may be indicated by the words Promise, Christ, Christian Living." --from the Translator's Preface Author Biography: Karl Barth (1886-1968) the Swiss Reformed professor and pastor, was once described by Pope Pius XII as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas. As principal author of The Barmen Declaration, he was the intellectual leader of the German Confessing Church--the Protestant group that resisted the Third Reich. Barth's teaching career spanned nearly ve decades. Removed from his post at Bonn by the Nazis in late 1934, Barth moved to Basel where he taught until 1962. Among Barth's many books, sermons, and essays are the Epistle to the Romans, Humanity of God, Evangelical Theology, and Church Dogmatics. Eduard Thurneysen (1888-1974) was a pastor in a Swiss town near where Barth was pastor, and they worked out dialectical theology together. He was later Professor of Theology at Zurich.

The Sermon on the Mount is often considered a model for the moral and religious conduct of man. Such an interpretation defrauds the Sermon of its real meaning, according to Eduard Thurneysen, and results in a futile legalistic attempt to fulfill the Sermon's commands. Dr. Thurneysen insists that the Sermon on the Mount must be understood in terms of gospel and nothing but gospel. It is to be read with eyes directed only to Jesus and not to the problems of life as such. Then the problems will be set in true perspective, too. He further asserts that the Sermon is gospel in the form of law. Each "thou shalt" is the future promise--"you will"--because you have received the promise of the coming kingdom. The gospel demands obedience, but it is always the obedience of disobedient man--an obedience on the basis of grace.