It is arguable that one of the most serious obstacles to a proper appreciation of Barth's magnum opus is an inadequate grasp of the fact that the Church Dogmatics is a work of moral theology as well as of systematics. A failure to take this point seriously often lies behind critiques of Barth's theology generally, when he is accused of being abstracted from the world of human history and action. By reinterpreting Barth's work as an ethical dogmatics, Webster shows that such readings are all too often abortive from the beginning.

John Webster provides a major scholarly analysis of the final sections of the Church Dogmatics. He focuses on the theme of human agency in Barth's late ethics and doctrine of baptism, placing the discussion in the context of an interpretation of the Dogmatics as an intrinsically ethical dogmatics. The first two chapters survey the themes of agency, covenant and human reality in the Dogmatics as a whole; later chapters give a thorough analysis of Church Dogmatics IV/4 and the posthumously published text The Christian Life. A final chapter examines the significance of Barth's work for contemporary accounts of moral selfhood. The book is important not only for a detailed analysis of a neglected part of Barth's oeuvre, but also because it casts into question much of what has hitherto been written about Barth's ethical dogmatics.

This book is the first introduction in any language to the work of Eberhard Jungel, who increasingly is recognised as one of the leading contemporary Protestant German theologians. It furnishes a comprehensive survey of his work as New Testament scholar, systematic theologian and philosopher, focusing particularly on his discussions of theological and religious language, the role of Christology, the doctrines of God and man, and questions of natural theology. Some initial evaluations of Jungel's theology are offered in the light of other current traditions of theology and philosophy, both English and German.