Barmen Declaration as a Paradigm for a Theology of the American Church

"Osborn's text represents the most serious and comprehensive effort to make use of the theological vision provided by Barmen. . . . This book makes an interesting contribution both to theological reflection on the Barmen declaration and to theological reflection upon the American theological situation. What also commends this book is the theological rigor with which it goes about its task." - Word World

"Osborn uses Barmen to declare that the starting point for any theology of the American Church must be grounded in the hearing of the Word that is Jesus Christ. Although such a position brings him into conflict with pluralists, liberationists, feminists, and the Religious Right, Osborn's argument may provide a path into the oft-neglected question of ecclesiology in the American Church." -- Religious Studies Review

"Osborn's unique contribution lies in the arresting way in which he first assesses the import of each of Barmen's six articles in the context of the German church struggle and then addresses their relevance for interpreting the health of the church in America today. . . . Osborn pulls no punches.. . . This is an incisive and troubling critique of much of the mainline and also of the not so mainline churches in America." - David Mueller

"I believe that Osborn has succeeded in taking Barmen out of the quaint corner where historians seek only what makes for heroism or civil courage and into the obviously unfinished discussion of the separation of church and state here and there, then and now. . . . it is written with both the classroom and the church in mind. As it calls the church to awareness of resources for its struggle, so it alerts the academy to a new recognition of the practical impossibility of seeking understanding of 'religion' in separation from 'politics.' I welcome Robert Osborn's study and commend it." - Martin Rumscheidt