The Contemporary Theological Scene

Abstract

"The great theological giants of this century have now passed or are now passing from the scene-Karl Barth. Emil Brunner Paul Tiiiich, Rudolf Bultmann, Karl Hei~. the brother~ Niebuhr, and the brothers Baillie. We face a more democratic scene where men with less charisma vie for a face in the theological sun. No great and authentic voice thunders from Germany or Switzerland. As with politics, so with theology, we find ourselves in the age of common men. This may be good for us, and yet many of us look back with nostalgia to days when a new book from one of the great theologians struck deep into our souls and stabbed us wide awake. I can still remember the days when, as a young minister in Bath, Barth, Brunner, and Heim stirred me to new theological understanding, or in the forties when Tillich began to open up new vistas for me and when Bultmann challenged. the complacency of my theological jargon"