Mark Galli is the editor of Christianity Today and the author of Karl Barth: A Biography for Evangelicals. In an article at the CT website he reflects on Barth’s longstanding adulterous affair with his personal assistant, Charlotte von Kirschbaum.
Here is a taste:
Again, my concern is not simply that Barth was a sinner and that his sin was an extramarital affair. Many fine people do stupid things in life. It’s that he justified the affair on the very grounds that substantially contradict his theological project as well as his theological method. And did so year after year after year. What was I to make of his theology now? And could I in good conscience continue to recommend Barth to others if he himself could not follow his own theological path?
Read the entire piece here.
Evidently this is old news (decades) to the German speaking theological world. I sure was surprised, especially that Barth consistently justified his actions with theological machinations.