Johann Christoph Blumhardt

Still relevant for our time, Christoph Blumhardt was and is my spiritual father. I am extremely pleased that this series is coming to fruition. I congratulate the editors.--Jurgen Moltmann An impressive effort of considerable value.--Bernard McGinn Today's church is dying for examples for what it means to be faithful. It is, therefore, a great and good thing that the collected works of the Blumhardts will now be made available. The Blumhardts not only saw what a faithful church might look like, they exemplified it in their wide-ranging writings and work. This series is a boon to the church.--Stanley Hauerwas This project is an important venture . . . It is hard to imagine a more influential team upon Barth than the Blumhardts. They gave Barth a great vision of a lively, intruding God. . . Jesus is Victor!--William Willimon In plain and profound language, and rooted in their pastoral experience, the Blumhardts wrote with startling, deep conviction about the kingdom's social as well as its personal reality. Their words are all the more pertinent for us today. The Blumhardt Series is a major event for the witness and work of the church in the twenty-first century.--Rodney Clapp Karl Barth once noted that German systematic theology missed out on the Blumhardts in a sleepy daze. One can only wonder how much was lost, including the vibrant spirituality, the progressive politics, and the strong sense of the reality of the work of God for which these men were known. Once again we need to be awakened from our slumbers, and the Blumhardts could be catalysts in this process, reminding us that theology and the church must be squarely located in the pressures and struggles of this world.--Jörg Rieger