Dirkie Smit

Citizenship in Heaven and on Earth

Theology

“Barth's views on ethics, often studied, are also often misunderstood and misrepresented (even when they are praised)—sometimes because only one phase of his life and thought is considered, sometimes because only one theme is highlighted as the key to everything, sometimes because his changing historical contexts are not adequately taken into account. Massmann skillfully avoids all these temptations, providing an excellent historical overview and comprehensive interpretation with careful attention to both detail and relevance, then and now. It comes as a wonderful surprise—like finding a new treasure in a field where so many have toiled before! This book will certainly occupy its rightful place among some very good recent studies on Barth's ethics. The public voice of a church theologian comes alive in these pages, and will certainly inform and inspire many doing public theology today, in their different contexts and in their own ways.”