Now that's my kind of preacher
Jennifer is going through Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and recently told me she wants to read more about Karl Barth (pronounced Bart). A quick read of the Wikipedia article produced this gem of a quote. When he refused to swear allegiance to Adolf Hitler in 1935, he
… then returned to his native Switzerland (home of the phrase, Ein Schweizer, sieben Deutsche – MSM), where he assumed a chair in systematic theology at the University of Basel. In the course of his appointment he was required to answer a routine question asked of all Swiss civil servants: whether he supported the national defense. His answer was, “Yes, especially on the northern border!”
The impetus for his exodus was the Barmen Declaration of 1934, which he wrote and personally mailed to Der Midget mit dem Moustache, declaring that no, the church would not switch the cross of Christ for the crooked cross and call it all copacetic. From Jennifer’s book, we learn this little joy:
The principal author of the Barmen Confession was Karl Barth, who claimed to have produced the final version “fortified by strong coffee and one or two Brazilian cigars.”
Something tells me his sermons were full of both snark and conviction.