Monday, August 15, 2011

Absolutely Chinese

I couldn't help but post this.

"Calvin is a cataract, a primeval forest, a demonic power, something directly down from the Himalaya, absolutely Chinese, strange, mythological; I lack completely the means, the suction cups, even to assimilate this phenomenon, not to speak of presenting it adequately. What I receive is only a thin little stream and what I can then give out again is only a yet thinner extract of this little stream. I could gladly and profitably set myself down and spend all the rest of my life with just Calvin."

Karl Barth, Revolutionary Theology in the Making: Barth-Thurneysen Correspondence, 1914-1925. 101

3 comments:

david gentino said...

Love it. I can't wait to call someone "absolutely Chinese" and brace for their response.

Jon Furst said...

You should have had us guess who said this. I would have guessed that it was a highlight from a PCA Synod meeting–– but only the first part.

crob said...

Barth at his usual frenetic pitch. "I lack the suction cups"? That's awesome.