This week's Friday's Finds is a book that is part of my Karl Barth collection and one that, sadly, isn't as well known as his other words: God In Action. It contains five addresses Barth gave between April 10 and September 12, 1934. The pressure of the Nazi government on the churches in Germany during this period was fierce. The Barmen Declaration -- written mostly by Barth -- was adopted during that previous May. Repeatedly in God in Action Barth refers to the "remarkable apostasy of the Church to nationalism". Each of the five lectures attempt to pry off Nazi fingers from the Church: (1) Revelation, (2) the Church, (3) Theology, (4) the Ministry and (5) Witness are only rightly conceived as primarily what God has done and does. Barth urges the Church to take its orders from God rather than human authorities. The title of the work comes from his statement, "What is done to us, God in action for us, is a divine miracle".
What seems so thoroughly timely to me, is Barth's insistence that the church becomes infected with "apostasy" whenever it caters to that political power and pressure. Whenever nationalism rules.
I've maintained for years that if you want to understand a faith strong enough to resist the forces of nationalism, this is the book you need. (And, sadly, that's why I think it goes so unappreciated in Barth's literary work.)