The Barmen Declaration at 90

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“I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved.” John 10:1,9

“Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death.”

“We reject the false doctrine that the Church could and should recognize as a source of its proclamation, beyond and besides this one Word of God, yet other events, powers, historic figures and truths as God’s revelation.”

So begins the Barmen Confession, the call to theological resistance, drafted by Karl Barth, and issued in 1934 by dissident Protestant ministers and theologians – the emerging Confessing Church – in opposition to the German Christian’s embrace of the “Führer Principle” and the assimilation of the German Evangelical Church to the Nazi regime. 

Since it was drafted ninety years ago the Barmen Confession, or Declaration, has served the Protestant world as an inspiring example of robust Christian conviction and courageous dissent – a ray of light in times when the church has become an appendage of the nation.

In his classic Creeds of the Churches: A Reader in Christian Doctrine from the Biblical to the Present, the scholar John H. Leith calls it “a witness, a battle cry.”

The London Times ran the full text on June 4, less than a week after the synod concluded, and translations soon followed in newspapers and church periodicals throughout western Europe and the English-speaking world. 

The Barmen Declaration was in some ways just a forthright and single-minded affirmation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ according to scripture and tradition: “ ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.’ (John 14.6). ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.… I am the door; if anyone enters by me, he will be saved.’ (John 10:1, 9).” But it was also an exercise in subversive indirection. Reflecting on John 14:6, for instance, it says, “Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death. We reject the false doctrine that the Church could and should recognize as a source of its proclamation, beyond and besides this one Word of God, any other events, powers, historic figures and truths as God’s revelation.”

It was bold as far as it went. If Jesus is the one Word of God and Lord of all, then every political claim to bespeak God’s purposes is illegitimate, if not idolatrous. And, yet, the statement remained evasive on the most urgent concrete issues, never once mentioning the Aryan paragraph, just as years later the Confessing Church would demur on the burning of synagogues, the deportation of Jews and other non-Aryans to the concentration camps, or the extermination of people with physical or mental disabilities. At least, this was the estimation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bonhoeffer skipped the conference in Barmen but signed the declaration. Still, even as he promoted the declaration to his ecumenical allies, he remained suspicious of many of his cosignatories.

In this recent exchange with award-winning filmmaker Martin Doblmeier, Charles Marsh discusses the Barmen Declaration and Bonhoeffer’s theological critique of its limits.

Can I Get a Witness? Charles Marsh to speak at the Virginia Festival of the Book

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VA Fest of Book 2019

On Friday, March 22, Charles Marsh will present a lecture on Can I Get a Witness? Thirteen Peacemakers, Community Builders, and Agitators for Faith & Justice as the part of the Rebels With a Cause symposium. Along with Hal Crowther, author of Freedom Fighters and Hell Raisers: A Gallery of Memorable Southerners, they will discuss discuss their collections of biographical essays on unexpected and underappreciated leaders in struggles for justice and equality. Book sales and signing will follow.

The presentation will begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

To go to the Virginia Festival of the Book’s website, click here.

Charles Marsh to Deliver Lecture at UC Berkeley

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“From the Phraseological to the Real”: Lived Theology and the Public University

On February 23, Charles Marsh will deliver a lecture at the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion as part of their culminating conference for a project focused on the place of theology in the university. 

The BCSR says the main goal of the project “was to challenge narrow conceptions of both secular learning and ‘theology,’ in hopes of fostering robust conversation about the teaching of religion in the pluralist setting of the modern university.” This conference will focus on three major areas of inquiry: Theology and the History of Learning, Theology and Modern Secular Disciplines, and The Limits and Possibilities of Theology in a Pluralist World. It runs from February 22-23, and Marsh will be giving his lecture on February 23 at 4:00.

Find more event information on BCSR’s website here. For a full listing of our spring speaking engagements with Charles Marsh and others, visit our events calendar here.

Charles Marsh is the Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and the director of the Project on Lived Theology. His research interests include modern Christian thought, religion and civil rights, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and lived theology. His publications include Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2014) and God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights (1997), which won the 1998 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

For more event details and up-to-date event listings please click here to visit the PLT Events page. We also post updates online using #PLTevents. To get these and other news updates, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @LivedTheology. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

Charles Marsh Delivers DuBose Lectures at Sewanee University

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Can I Get a Witness? Explorations in an Amen

On September 26 and 27 Charles Marsh delivered three lectures at the School of Theology at Sewanee University as the 2018 DuBose Lecturer. Marsh built upon the theme of witness by presenting three different lectures.

The first lecture “Aristocrats of Responsiblity: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Quest for a New Nobility” details the theology and writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Marsh collects Bonhoeffer’s theological journey from gatherings in the dissident Church in Germany, his spiritual awakening during his trip through the Jim Crow south, and his late writings from Gestapo prison. “Dietrich Bonhoeffer came to a heightened and expansive sense of God’s presence and of what he called the ‘polyphony,’ the great richness and depth and textures of Christian faith.” Watch the first lecture here.

The second lecture”‘Better than Church’: The Civil Rights Movement and Religionless Christianity” explores the theology of the Civil Rights Movement, drawing on stories of Fannie Lou Hamer, Dr. Martin Luther King, SNCC, and other pivotal figures. Marsh highlighted Hamer’s role in the movement: “She gave voice to an exuberant love of Jesus of Nazareth, an immersive intensive incarnational spirituality. I would say evangelical in the most important and robust sense of the word. A parable of God’s resounding yes and Amen spoken in Jesus and to be shared with everyone. And a love of the whole miraculous story, of the death and burial and resurrection of Christ. And her love, because of that particular conviction, was a great big open love, open to anyone who cared for the weak and the poor.” Watch the second lecture here.

The third lecture “Visions of Amen: On the Judgment of God and the Splendor of the World” draws on Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and delves into the complicity of the white churches’ response to the Civil Rights Movement. “Wandering in wastelands of our own design, we wonder, has not the judging, righteous God traveled to save us as well? Isn’t this the message of the gospel? There is a place beyond judgment and wrath? This place of course, cannot be reached without repentance, metanoia, beyond judgment and wrath is the forgiveness of sin. Attention to the sacrifices of Jesus and the excellences of Christ. Attention to the christological incognito, to the distressed and excluded. And the hope for the return of splendor in the world.” Watch the third lecture here.

Find more information on Marsh’s DuBose Lectures on Sewanee University’s website here. For a full listing of our spring speaking engagements with Charles Marsh and others, visit our events calendar here.

Charles Marsh is the Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and the director of the Project on Lived Theology. His research interests include modern Christian thought, religion and civil rights, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and lived theology. His publications include Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2014) and God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights (1997), which won the 1998 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

For more event details and up-to-date event listings please click here to visit the PLT Events page. We also post updates online using #PLTevents. To get these and other news updates, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @LivedTheology. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

Charles Marsh to Deliver Nusbaum Lecture at Virginia Wesleyan

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The American Civil Rights Movement and the Women Who Started It

On October 25 at 7:00 p.m. Charles Marsh will deliver the Justine L. Nusbaum lecture at Virginia Wesleyan University. The lecture will take place at Boyd Dining Center.

Marsh will discuss the religious beliefs behind the American civil rights movement, and highlight women who enacted these convictions. He will reflect on the witness of social reformers Fannie Lou Hamer, Victoria Gray Adams, and Jane Stembridge, Marsh will show how their determined leadership and organizing gives us insight in addressing challenges of today.

Find more event information on Virginia Wesleyan’s website here. For a full listing of our spring speaking engagements with Charles Marsh and others, visit our events calendar here.

Charles Marsh is the Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and the director of the Project on Lived Theology. His research interests include modern Christian thought, religion and civil rights, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and lived theology. His publications include Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2014) and God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights (1997), which won the 1998 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

For more event details and up-to-date event listings please click here to visit the PLT Events page. We also post updates online using #PLTevents. To get these and other news updates, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @LivedTheology. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

Charles Marsh to Deliver DuBose Lectures at Sewanee University

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Can I Get a Witness? Explorations in an Amen

On September 26 and 27 Charles Marsh will deliver three lectures at the School of Theology at Sewanee University as the 2018 DuBose Lecturer.

Marsh will build upon the theme of witness by presenting three different lectures. All lectures will take place in Guerry Auditorium. The first lecture “Aristocrats of Responsiblity: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Quest for a New Nobility” will begin at 9:00 am on September 26.  The second lecture “‘Better than Church’: The Civil Rights Movement and Religionless Christianity” will begin at 2:00 pm on September 26. The final lecture “Visions of Amen: On the Judgment of God and the Splendor of the World” will begin at 9:00 am on September 27. There will also be a book signing with Dr. Marsh in the Convocation Hall on September 26 from 3:45 – 4:15 pm.

Find more event information on Sewanee University’s website here. For a full listing of our spring speaking engagements with Charles Marsh and others, visit our events calendar here.

Charles Marsh is the Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and the director of the Project on Lived Theology. His research interests include modern Christian thought, religion and civil rights, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and lived theology. His publications include Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2014) and God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights (1997), which won the 1998 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

For more event details and up-to-date event listings please click here to visit the PLT Events page. We also post updates online using #PLTevents. To get these and other news updates, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @LivedTheology. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

Charles Marsh and John Perkins Speak at Pepperdine University

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Keynote speaker Rev. John PerkinsOn the Question of God and Justice

On Tuesday, March 27th, Charles Marsh and PLT contributor John M. Perkins presented a feature entitled “Does God Care About Justice?” at the Veritas Forum at Pepperdine University. The Veritas Forum is an organization that facilitates conversations between students and faculty on a range of beliefs and life’s hardest questions in pursuit of truth.

Marsh spoke of Bonhoeffer’s reflections on the church while in prison, comparing the Nazi’s appropriation of the Christian church to the way white southern churches of his youth distorted the word of God in their own prejudice. In his talk, he noted:

“My own culture and my own taste had constructed a God that had very little to do with the gospel… the church… exists fundamentally beyond national boundaries, political boundaries, social boundaries, racial boundaries… Those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord are quite necessarily… members of the global fellowship.”

Perkins reflected on the great societal changes he had seen in his life, particularly in the church, and how those related to the historical changes in the church started by Martin Luther and Bonhoeffer. In his discussion of of the current state of society, he expressed his conviction that the church, and indeed society as a whole, could become more equal and accepting, explaining:

“We might be at a sacred moment in history… I believe that we can form multicultural churches. I believe that we can be intentional in our love.”

To watch the talk in its entirety, along with the following Q&A, click here. For more information on the Veritas Forum, visit their website here.

John M. Perkins is a leader and major figure of the civil rights movement of the 1960s who founded Voice of Calvary Ministries, a Christian community development ministry, with his wife, Vera Mae. 

Charles Marsh is the Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and the director of the Project on Lived Theology. His research interests include modern Christian thought, religion and civil rights, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and lived theology.

PLT event updates can be found online using #PLTevents. To browse our PLT resource collection, click here. Updates on our resources can be found online using #PLTresources. To get these updates, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @LivedTheology.

Charles Marsh and John Perkins to Present at Pepperdine University

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Keynote speaker Rev. John PerkinsIn Conversation on God and Justice

On Tuesday, March 27th, Charles Marsh will co-present a feature entitled “Does God Care About Justice?” with PLT Contributor John M. Perkins at the Veritas Forum at Pepperdine University.

The Veritas Forum helps students and faculty ask life’s hardest questions on a range of beliefs to explore big questions and pursue Truth together. With a mission to confront the big “why” questions anew, the forum is committed to courageous conversations, placing the historic Christian faith in dialogue with other beliefs and invite participants from all backgrounds to pursue Truth together.

For more information on the event, visit the Veritas Forum website here.

John M. Perkins is a leader and major figure of the civil rights movement of the 1960s who founded Voice of Calvary Ministries, a Christian community development ministry, with his wife, Vera Mae. 

Charles Marsh is the Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and the director of the Project on Lived Theology. His research interests include modern Christian thought, religion and civil rights, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and lived theology.

PLT event updates can be found online using #PLTevents. To browse our PLT resource collection, click here. Updates on our resources can be found online using #PLTresources. To get these updates, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @LivedTheology.

Rediscovering King for Today: PLT Announces Prophet with a Pencil Initiative

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Filing CabinetScholar Task Force to Write Essays and Host Public Form

With the fiftieth anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death approaching in April 2018, University of Virginia’s Project on Lived Theology is pleased to announce a new, $30,000 initiative, Prophet with a Pencil: The Continuing Significance of Martin Luther King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’—a gathering of ten scholars and practitioners, conceptualized and organized by Arthur M. Sutherland, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Theology at Loyola University Maryland. Convening in Birmingham, Alabama, this June, the assembly’s work includes publishing a volume of essays and hosting a public forum on the theological ideas and questions raised by King in 1963 that are still relevant today.  

Typically read in American colleges and universities as an example of masterful rhetoric, King’s letter, written with a borrowed pencil, is actually a critique of Christian faith and practices; the letter admonishes a church in which King’s words had “a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound.” Although many of the sentences in King’s letter, such as “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” supply the pages of our national quote book, their theological significance is often overlooked. The Prophet with a Pencil scholars will address this void by sharing and discussing their work during a research retreat at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) in June of 2018. Located in the historic Civil Rights District of Birmingham just across the street from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and Kelly Ingram Park, BCRI is a cultural and educational research center that promotes a comprehensive understanding and appreciation for the significance of civil rights developments in Birmingham.

During the three-day gathering, this task force of scholars will share drafts of their essays, meet with surviving participants of the Birmingham Children’s March, and participate in an exchange of ideas with civil rights activists. After the gathering, pastors, congregants, seminarians, students, and theologians from around the world will be able to read the essay collection and participate in the discussion of the relevance and significance of the words of King’s letter for the church today through Prophet with a Pencil’s website.

Dr. Charles Marsh, the director of The Project on Lived Theology called Sutherland’s concept and rationale “altogether compelling” and looks forward to a productive collaboration.

The mission of The Project on Lived Theology is to clarify the interconnection of theology and lived experience and promote academic resources in pursuit of social justice and human flourishing. The Project offers a variety of familiar and unconventional spaces where theologians, scholars, students, practitioners, and non-academics can demonstrate the importance of theological ideas in the public conversation about civic responsibility and social progress. The project was established in 2000 with a grant from the Lilly Endowment.

For more event details and up-to-date event listings please click here to visit the PLT Events page. We also post updates online using #PLTevents. To get these and other news updates, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @LivedTheology. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

Christianity Under Attack: Charles Marsh Addresses NRA Impact in Religion and Politics

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Charles Marsh, Charles Marsh to Deliver 25th Annual Harry Vaughan Smith LecturesOn a Gospel Approach to Gun Control in America

On January 3rd, Project Director Charles Marsh published his latest essay in Religion and Politics. The piece, entitled “The NRA’s Assault on Christian Faith and Practice,” traces the American response to the laws regulating and statistics surrounding gun ownership and examines their underlying ties with Christianity today. Regardless of political affiliation, Marsh argues careful reflection of the Christian response to the ongoing gun epidemic is required by all to remain true to the teachings of the Gospel. Indeed, with gun violence and resulting death tolls on the rise throughout the country, the church and its members can afford to do no less.

In the essay, Marsh writes:

“On issues related to gun violence, safety, and regulation, evangelicals clearly need, and deserve, a more theologically robust discussion. A good start might be formulating questions for reflection and study, such as: Are there aspects of American gun culture that contradict or confuse the message of the Gospel? (If so, let’s name them.) Have evangelicals sought to understand gun violence in America under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and with prayerful discernment of practical solutions? How can followers of Jesus preserve the distinctive speech and practices of Christian witness from the religion of the NRA, whose distinctive speech and practices cluster around the promise of overwhelming force? Under what conditions, if any, should the Christian lay down his or her arms? Does the support of the American gun lobby bring glory to God?…

It is of course the right of every law-abiding citizen to own a gun and of institutions, including churches, to think diligently about public safety and effective policing practices. Such matters have been heavy on the minds of my colleagues and compatriots in Charlottesville, Virginia, as we’ve tried to understand why our university and town were overrun by gun-wielding white supremacists on August 11 and 12 of last summer, with precious few interventions by university, local, and state police. But it is the responsibility of every person baptized into “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (II Corinthians 13:14) to engage the world with new habits of thought, speech, and behavior. Our reckoning as Christians with the “costs of discipleship” may not lead to the judgment that an armed church or gun ownership is behavior displeasing to God. But it must disrupt the easy alliance that currently prevails between the NRA and American evangelicals.”

Read the paper in full here.

Charles Marsh is the Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and the director of the Project on Lived Theology. His research interests include modern Christian thought, religion and civil rights, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and lived theology.

For more of featured writings of our PLT Contributors, click here. To engage in the conversation on Facebook and Twitter,@LivedTheology, please use #LivedTheologyWrites. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.