Colin Gunton was world renowned as a scholar, systematic theologian and Reformed minister; however, he never lived to fulfill his ambition to write a book devoted solely to Barth. Gunton on Barth is an in-depth analysis, derived from the lecture course he gave most years at King's College London: something of an annual institution it was aimed at undergraduates, though the majority of those attending were MA/PhD students, and researchers from America and Germany! Approximately half of the work consists of quotations representing an essential understanding: Colin was a creative lecturer, although he worked from notes he gave space to the free rein of his mind particularly when fielding questions or trying to analyze a particular strand of Barth's thought. Colin's understanding and expertise was world renowned. He did not take all Barth wrote uncritically, he struggled and wrestled with this giant of twentieth-century theology: as he always said at the beginning of the course, "Not everyone buys into Barth ... I don't, all the way along the line, as I get older I get more and more dissatisfied with the details of his working out of the faith ... over the years I think I have developed a reasonable view of this great man who is thoroughly exciting and particularly, I can guarantee, if you do this course, that you will be a better theologian by the third year, whether or not you agree with him ... he is a great man to learn to think theologically with."
"Not all readers will agree, of course, that the East/West divide is quite as stark as Gunton seemed to believe, or that all our problems can be traced back to St. Augustine. Especially beginners in Barth-studies should be made aware that these are questiones disputatae.But it is part of Gunton's generosity of spirit that his disagreements with Barth are never obtrusive. His criticisms are tentative, probing, and qualified with a slew of 'maybes' and 'I think's'. Whether or not one resonates with Gunton's critique of Barth, or with his own brand of neo-Cappadocian Evangelicalism, these lectures are the chance to see an agile theological mind delighting in a great subject. They also wonderfully model the virtue of charity in theological discussion." -- Joseph Mangina, Wycliffe College, Modern Theology
