Bücher von Eduard Thurneysen

""Dostoevsky's thinking has two poles: life as it is, the world as it goes its way, is one, and the beyond, 'resurrection,' eternity, is the other. Here is man, there is God."" This is the central emphasis of Eduard Thurneysen as he considers the great Russian novelist not primarily as a psychologist, metaphysician, or social philospher, but as a theologian of the highest order. Drawing liberally from characters and incidents in Dostoevsky's books, Dr. Thurneysen shows how the apparent triviality of the lives of the men and women in the novels is latent with the secret of a wholly other life. Their hunger and thirst for the eternal, their passion for the infinite, is the essential trait of man for Dostoevsky. Yet no step leads over from man to God, for how would God still be God if man could become God? But if there is no path from us to God, then all the more certainly a path leads from him to us. If we come to Dostoevsky with the question of man, he answers us with the picture of man as nothing but a single great question, the question of the origin of his life, the question of God. Published in German in 1921, Dostoevsky has been translated into French, Italian, and Japanese. This is the first English edition. An added sidelight: Karl Barth has said that his friend Thurneysen ""was the one who first put me on the trail of . . . Dostoevsky, without whose discovery I would not have been able to write either the first or second draft of the commentary on Romans.""

The Sermon on the Mount is often considered a model for the moral and religious conduct of man. Such an interpretation defrauds the Sermon of its real meaning, according to Eduard Thurneysen, and results in a futile legalistic attempt to fulfill the Sermon's commands. Dr. Thurneysen insists that the Sermon on the Mount must be understood in terms of gospel and nothing but gospel. It is to be read with eyes directed only to Jesus and not to the problems of life as such. Then the problems will be set in true perspective, too. He further asserts that the Sermon is gospel in the form of law. Each ""thou shalt"" is the future promise--""you will""--because you have received the promise of the coming kingdom. The gospel demands obedience, but it is always the obedience of disobedient man--an obedience on the basis of grace.

From a thoroughly biblical viewpoint Eduard Thurneysen probes deeply into the nature and practice of pastoral care. His rich understanding of men, his experience in counseling, and his grasp of theological thought infuse his approach with vitality and truth. As he considers the basis of pastoral care, Thurneysen puts forward the thesis that the purpose of counseling is to communicate the Word of God to individuals. Pastoral care is a ministry along with those of sermon and sacrament; its aim is to lead the counselee back to sermon and sacrament in the worship of the church. Although he does little more than hint at rules and techniques for pastoral care, Thurneysen is greatly concerned with its practical aspects. It is his belief that the care of souls occurs through conversation--confident, open-minded conversation which is founded on the Word of God, informed by prayer, and manifested in active listening to, and acceptance of, the counselee. Thurneysen demonstrates the importance of a knowledge of psychology and the principles of psychotherapy. Depth psychology and psychotherapy deeply enrich our understanding of human nature and serve to communicate the message of forgiveness all the more powerfully. This book provides a critical theological study of the whole field of pastoral care. As a work in practical theology, it will be stimulating and useful to professors of counseling as well as to students in the field. Counselors and pastors will find it helpful because it throws light on the fundamental issues involved in problems which they face in their ministries. Eduard Thurneysen (1888-1974) was a pastor in a Swiss town near where Barth was pastor, and they worked out dialectical theology together. He was later Professor of Theology at Zurich.

Synopsis:"These sermons were prepared from 1920 to 1924. Professor Barth preached some of them while he was minister of the Reformed congregation in Safenwil, Canton Aargau, Switzerland; others in the Reformed Church in Goettingen while he was professor of theology in the University. Pastor Thurneysen at that time preached to the congregation in Bruggen, near St. Gall, Switzerland. The sermons were written not for special occasions but for the regular Sunday morning service, and were addressed to such men and women as one will find in any village or city church--to men and women in the struggle for life, waiting and seeking for God. "Pastor Thurneysen selected the sermons and arranged them according to a scheme that may be indicated by the words Promise, Christ, Christian Living." --from the Translator''s PrefaceAuthor Biography:Karl Barth (1886-1968) the Swiss Reformed professor and pastor, was once described by Pope Pius XII as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas. As principal author of The Barmen Declaration, he was the intellectual leader of the German Confessing Church--the Protestant group that resisted the Third Reich. Barth''s teaching career spanned nearly five decades. Removed from his post at Bonn by the Nazis in late 1934, Barth moved to Basel where he taught until 1962. Among Barth''s many books, sermons, and essays are the Epistle to the Romans, Humanity of God, Evangelical Theology, and Church Dogmatics.Eduard Thurneysen (1888-1974) was a pastor in a Swiss town near where Barth was pastor, and they worked out dialectical theology together. He was later Professor of Theology at Zurich.