“I have constantly had occasion to wish and suggest that the attitude and approach of the younger generations of Protestant theologians to the period of the Church that is just past might be rather different from that which they now often seem to regard, somewhat impetuously, as the norm – misunderstanding the guidance they have received from me.
I would be very pleased if they were (to put it simply) to show a little more love towards those who have gone before us, despite the degree of alienation they feel from them…
We need openness towards and interest in particular figures with their individual characteristics, an understanding of the circumstances in which they worked, much patience and also much humour in the face of their obvious limitations and weaknesses, a little grace in expressing even the most profound criticism, and finally, even in the worst cases, a certain tranquil delight that they were as they were.”
Karl Barth, Protestant Theology in the Nineteenth Century, quoted in Hancock, Karl Barth’s Emergency Homiletic.
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