Table Talk with Karl Barth

Here are some great nuggets of exhortation from Karl Barth, pulled from Karl Barth’s Table Talk, which is a group of transcribed Q&A sessions between Barth and his students.

Q: Ought we not to enter the pulpit with the expectation that God will speak through us?  Ought we not to hope?

A: You ought to underscore the word ‘hope’.  When Luther, near the end of his life, scribbled, “We are really beggars,” he was not in despair.  Being a beggar before God means being a child of God!

Q: Do you think that Protestants put too much emphasis upon the Bible?

A: Protestants need not be ashamed of the Bible. . . . Without the Bible over against the Church, then we are in the Roman Catholic camp.  The Bible must always be over against the interpreting Church.  This is the reason for exegesis.  The Bible must be free, that is, sovereign, over against the Church.

Q: Do you think communion should be administered every Sunday?

A: Yes, I do.  It should be the climax of every service.  Calvin asked the government of Geneva to have communion every Sunday, but the government refused.  This began the tradition of infrequent communion in the Reformed Church.

Q: Can we choose freedom?  Have we the ability?

A: The liberty of free will is sin!  It is the shame of humanity that we live as if we could choose.