Stephen Williams, Barth on Election

The Henry Center Archive

2009 Kantzer Lectures, Lecture #2

In this lecture, Williams takes account of the enduring influence of Barth’s doctrine of election. He briefly lays out the major contours of Barth’s construction before going on to evaluate its merits. The lecture, however, becomes as much about instruction in interpreting other theologians and speculation as it is about the doctrine of election itself. Williams concludes that in Barth, atonement and election are swapped. The universal extent of the atonement is moved to election and election (and reprobation) to atonement, Jesus as the reprobate one.