Translators’ Seminar

The Barth Translators’ Seminar exists to foster the English-language reception of Karl Barth’s literary corpus by providing support and guidance for qualified translators and through facilitating the publishing of as yet unavailable Barth resources for the church and academy. The Seminar emerged out of the Center for Barth Studies regular conferences in response to the concern both for continual improvement of the quality of Barth translations as well as the encouragement of new translations. In light of the universally recognized significance of Barth’s work as the premier Reformed theologian of the twentieth century, it is a matter of both urgency and stewardship that his work be made available in reliable translations for the theological work of both the church and the academy. The resources of the Barth Center have proven to be an invaluable resource for the work of the participating translators. In its annual sessions, the Seminar has developed standards for translation and provided expert guidance to active translators. Publication of the first volumes resulting from this work of the Seminar is now imminent.

DAVID CHAO

Program Manager

David C. Chao is a PhD candidate in theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. He has degrees from Yale University (BA), Regent College (MDiv), and Princeton Theological Seminary (ThM). He has published in Zeitschrift für dialektische Theologie, is co-editor of a three-volume work on Karl Barth’s conversations (1959-1968), and taught at Princeton Theological Seminary and Princeton University. He is currently completing a dissertation on the relation of nature and grace in Karl Barth’s doctrine of providence. His research interests include Protestant and Catholic dogmatics (especially as they pertain to issues of nature and grace), Reformed theology (classical and modern), and Asian American theology. David is Program Manager for the Barth Translators’ Seminar and is also a Translation Fellow.

CLIFFORD B. ANDERSON

Clifford B. Anderson is an Associate University Librarian for Research and Learning and Professor of Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. He holds a M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. and Th.M. in Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary. He also earned a M.S. in L.I.S. from the Pratt Institute. Anderson is the co-author of two edited volumes (both with Bruce L. McCormack) on Karl Barth: Karl Barth and American Evangelicalism (Eerdmans, 2011) and Karl Barth and the Making of Evangelical Theology (Eerdmans, 2015). He is also the translator (with Dagmare Houniet) of Tjitze Kuiper’s Abraham Kuyper: An Annotated Bibliography, 1857–2010 (Brill, 2011).

MATTHEW J. ARAGON BRUCE

Matthew is currently Assistant Professor of Religion at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO. He holds a MDiv (2006) and PhD (2014) from Princeton Theological Seminary and a MTh (2007) from the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on modern and medieval theology, with particular interest in Karl Barth and Thomas Aquinas. His present major project is a monograph entitled: Theology without Voluntarism: Karl Barth and Thomas Aquinas on the Love and Freedom of the Triune God.

JOHN BURGESS

John P. Burgess (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1986) is the James Henry Snowden Professor of Systematic Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. His publications include The East German Church and the End of Communism, Why Scripture Matters, and Encounters with Orthodoxy, as well as numerous articles in professional journals and popular magazines. In 2004-05, Burgess spent a sabbatical year in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2011, he was a Fulbright Scholar in Moscow, Russia, and in 2012 continued his research in Russia as a Henry Luce III Foundation Theology Fellow. In 2014-15, he was a research fellow at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey. He is currently working on a translation of essays by Wolf Krötke, a major contemporary German interpreter of Barth and Bonhoeffer.

TERRY L. CROSS

Terry Cross teaches in the areas of theology and philosophy. A specialist in the work of Karl Barth, he completed his doctoral work in systematic theology. Prior to his work at Lee University, Cross was a pastor for twelve years and a high school teacher of Latin and history. He was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award at Lee University in May 2000 and the Excellence in Scholarship Award in May 2001. He is the author of Dialectic in Karl Barth’s Doctrine of God, Answering the Call in the Spirit: Pentecostal Reflection on a Theology of Vocation, Work, and Life. Currently, Cross is completing a book on ecclesiology entitled, The Church: A People of God’s Presence and Power. Cross graduated from Lee in 1978, earning the first of several degrees. He later received the M.A. in Church History and the M.Div. in Theology from Ashland Theological Seminary (Ohio). From Ashland, he moved to Princeton Theological Seminary, where he received the Th.M. in Doctrinal Theology and the Ph.D. in Systematic Theology (1991). In the summer of 2002, Cross became the dean of the School of Religion. Terry and his wife, Linda, have one daughter, Tara. Aside from golf, tennis, and racquetball, he enjoys genealogy and Latin.

SVEN ENSMINGER

Sven is originally from Germany. A graduate of the University of St Andrews, he received his Masters from Yale Divinity School before returning to the UK for his doctoral studies. His doctoral thesis under the supervision of Gavin D’Costa, Karl Barth’s Theology as a Resource for a Christian Theology of Religions is published by T&T Clark/Bloomsbury. Sven is the author of numerous book reviews and articles. His current research focuses on the theological virtues.

KARLFRIED FROEHLICH

Dr. Karlfried Froehlich, son of a Lutheran minister, received an M.A. deegree from Drew University in 1961 and his doctorate in Theology summa cum laude from the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 1963. From 1960-1967 he taught New Testament and church history at Drew, and joined the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1968 where he held the Benjamin B. Warfield chair of Ecclesiastical History from 1982 to 1992. Dr. Froehlich has lectured widely in the United States and abroad. In 1995 he delivered the Hein-Fry Lectures in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and in 1997 the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary. His special interest is the history of biblical interpretation, especially in the Middle Ages, Christian iconography, and ecumenism. A lay theologian in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Dr. Froehlich has been active in church work on many levels. He was a member of the American Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue team from 1970-1990, of the U.S. Lutheran-Reformed Conversations from 1988 to 1992, and has participated in numerous national and international consultations. He is a member of the American Society of Church History, of the Mediaeval Academy of America, and of the American Theological Society where he was president in 1995. His publications include Understanding the New Testament (with H.C. Kee and F.W.Young, 1965 and 1973), Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church (Fortress Press, 1984), a four-volume edition of the Latin Bible with the standard medieval commentary, the Glossa ordinaria, 1992, The Bible as Word of God in a Post-Modern Age (with T.E. Fretheim; 1998), and Sensing the Scriptures: Aminadab’s Chariot and the Predicament of Biblical Interpretation, 2014. A volume of his essays, entitled Biblical Interpretation from the Church Fathers to the Reformation was published in 2010 as vol. CS951 of Ashgate’s Variorum Series.

DAVID GILLAND

David Gilland is Lecturer in Systematic Theology at the Technische Universität in Braunschweig, Germany, a post which he has held since 2017. He was previously Lecturer at Leuphana University in Lüneburg, Germany. He completed his doctorate in divinity at the University of Aberdeen, UK, in 2010 under the supervision of John Webster. A revised version of David’s doctoral thesis was published by T&T Clark in 2013 as Law and Gospel in Emil Brunner’s Earlier Dialectical Theology, which traces Brunner’s earlier theological development and the build-up to his debate with Karl Barth on nature and grace in 1934. In addition to his work with the Barth Translator’s Seminar, David is also nearing the completion of a translation of the ‘Karl Barth–Emil Brunner Correspondence’ for T&T Clark. Beyond teaching and translation, David is currently researching and writing on the interrelation between Christian theology and human rationality, focusing in particular on interdisciplinary and ecumenical approaches to theological anthropology.

MATTHIAS GOCKEL

Matthias Gockel teaches Systematic Theology at the University of Basel, having previously taught at Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena. He is interested in the intellectual, social, and cultural history of modern Protestant theology. His current research focuses on the doctrine of God’s attributes and Political Ethics. He received his PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his dissertation was published (in revised form) as “Barth and Schleiermacher on the Doctrine of Election: A Systematic-Theological Comparison” (Oxford UP 2007). After his PhD he worked for six years in a mainline Protestant Church in Germany. He received fellowships from the German-American Fulbright Commission, Princeton Theological Seminary, the Luther-Gesellschaft, and Friedrich-Schiller-University.

JUDITH GUDER

Judith Guder earned a Bachelor’s Degree in French at the University of California at Berkeley and a Masters Degree in German from the University of Louisville. Translation work includes: Karl, Barth, The Theology of the Reformed Confessions (with Darrell Guder and Eberhard Busch); Eberhard Busch, The Great Passion (with Darrell Guder); and various articles in The Calvin Handbook, ed. H. J. Selderhuis.

She is a retired organist and pianist by profession.

DARRELL GUDER

Darrell Guder is Princeton Theological Seminary’s Henry Winters Luce Emeritus Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, he has served in the German Lutheran Church doing outreach to youth and teaching in a training college for church workers; he directed the Institute of Youth Ministries of Young Life and Fuller Seminary; he served as vice-president of academic affairs and academic dean of Whitworth University; and he has taught as a missiologist at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and Columbia Theological Seminary before joining Princeton’s faculty in 2002. His writing and teaching focus on the theology of the missional church, especially the theological implications of the paradigm shift to post-Christendom as the context for Christian mission in the West. One of his major research interests is reading Barth as a missional theologian. He has served as secretary-treasurer of the American Society of Missiology (ASM) and was its president from 2007–2008. His scholarly translations include Otto Weber, Foundations of Dogmatics (2 vols.); Eberhard Jüngel, God as the Mystery of the World; Karl Barth, The Theology of the Reformed Confessions (with Judith Guder and Eberhard Busch), The Great Passion: An Introduction to the Theology of Karl Barth (with Judith Guder). He also coordinates the annual Barth Translator’s Seminar every June immediately following the annual Karl Barth conference. In retirement he serves as Senior Fellow in Residence at St. Andrew’s Hall, Vancouver, working with its Centre for Missional Leadership. He chairs both the board of the Gospel and Our Culture Network and the Advisory Board of Macedonian Ministries.

THOMAS HERWIG

Thomas Herwig is an ordained minister of the Evangelische Kirche im Rheinland in Germany. He lives and works in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, having followed his wife Lou Ann Sellers in 2008 when she accepted the position as associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church. Thomas worked five years with Eberhard Busch as his first assistant in Göttingen. He then received his Ph.D. (Dr. theol) from the Protestant Faculty of the Ruhr University in Bochum with a dissertation on Barth’s involvement in the Ecumenical Movement based upon the correspondence between Barth and W.A.Visser ’t Hooft. He later edited this correspondence as Vol. 43 of the Gesamtausgabe. Before moving to the US, he served in the city of Duisburg as Campus Minster, Minister of Church & Arts, and Co-Pastor of a 6,000-member church. Since 2008, Thomas teaches religious studies, history, ethics, and cultural identity as Assistant Professor for the Honors College of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. At the same time, Thomas also started a German-speaking ministry under the roof of First Presbyterian Church, called “First Pres Deutsch.” Within the translators’ seminar, Thomas works in cooperation with Arnold Neufeldt-Fast on the translation of the second part of Barth’s Göttingen Dogmatics. He is proud father of three children: Johannes, Charlotte, and Madelyn.

CAMBRIA JANAE KALTWASSER

Cambria is Assistant Professor of Theology at Northwestern College, Iowa, where she teaches courses in historical and systematic theology. Her research examines the relationship between Barth’s covenantal theology and his account of human agency as responsibility before God. Her wider interests include the doctrine of humanity, sanctification, and Christian hope. She earned her MDiv and PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary (2010, 2017) and her BA from John Brown University (2006). She spent the 2013-2014 academic year conducting research at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen as a Fulbright Scholar. Kaltwasser is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She lives in northwestern Iowa with her husband, son, and daughter.

OLIVER KEENAN

Oliver Keenan is a Catholic Priest of the Dominican Order, currently serving as Lector in Fundamental and Dogmatic Theology at Blackfriars, Oxford. He completed his doctorate in systematic theology at the University of Oxford (under the supervision of Professor Graham Ward), outlining a semantic ontology for Christian dogmatics by developing the philosophy of Michael Polanyi in dialogue with contemporary Thomism. Oliver teaches courses across the whole nexus of systematic theology, but his research focusses on the theology of the twentieth-century, particularly Catholic receptions of Karl Barth. He is currently working on a monograph examining the metaphysics of Jesus’s humanity within a semantic perspective. In addition to his academic and administrative commitments, Fr Keenan is Catholic Chaplain at Imperial College London.

AMY MARGA

Amy Marga, PhD, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary, St Paul. She is the author of Karl Barth’s Dialogue with Catholicism in Göttingen and Münster (2010), and has written several articles on Barth for volumes like The Westminster Handbook to Karl Barth, The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, and The Barth Handbuch. She is also the translator of Barth’s Word of God and Theology (2011). At the moment, her research interests are focused on a theological constructive view of mothering and parenthood including theologies of the child. She lives in St Paul, Minnesota with her husband and two young boys.

DAVID MACLACHLAN

Full-time Professor for New Testament Studies and Early Christian History at AST since July 1983 with specialties in the Revelation to John, Paul, Early Church History; interests in Biblical Theology and Jewish-Christian dialogue. David was the Academic Dean at AST from 1998 to 2011. As a doctoral student under and research assistant to Dr. Markus Barth (1915-1994) at the University of Basel he assisted Dr. Barth with the preparation of his volumes on Ephesians and Colossians in the Anchor Bible commentary series as well as the volume on Philemon in the Critical Eerdmans Commentary series. He is a member of the Canadian Society for Biblical Studies and has written several shorter book reviews in Studies in Religion. He wrote articles for the student handbook, Dictionary of the Bible and Western Culture from Sheffield Phoenix Press. With a deep interest in the use of the Bible in the church David was a member of the United Church of Canada General Council Committee for Theology and Faith and chaired the Committee from 1988 to 1992. He participated in the development and writing of the 1992 UCC General Council report, The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture. He also sat on the committee that prepared the Canadian resources for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2014 materials. David is presently working on a collection of essays on the Revelation to John and a special study on the theology of Israel in the Revelation. He is also translating Markus Barth’s book Die Taufe: ein Sakrament? into English.

ARNOLD NEUFELDT-FAST

Arnold Neufeldt-Fast (b. 1964) is Associate Professor of Theology and Associate Academic Dean at Tyndale Seminary, Toronto, Ontario. He has a B.A. in German Language and Literature, and an M.A. in Philosophy (Continental) from Brock University. Neufeldt-Fast studied in Freiburg and Tübingen, and completed his Ph.D. in Toronto the theology of Eberhard Jüngel (1996). He is the translator of Jüngel’sTheological Essays II (T & T Clark), edited by his Doktorvater, John Webster. Neufeldt-Fast taught for six years in Liestal, Switzerland at the Mennonite Seminary Bienenberg before returning to Canada in 2006 to teach at Tyndale, a larger, trans-denominational evangelical seminary in Toronto. Neufeldt-Fast has been an ordained minister with Mennonite Church Canada since 1992. He is currently translating the second volume of Barth’s Göttingen Dogmatics.

PAUL T. NIMMO

Paul Nimmo holds the King’s (1620) Chair of Systematic Theology at the University of Aberdeen, having previously held positions at the University of Cambridge and the University of Edinburgh. His studies were undertaken at the University of Cambridge, the University of Edinburgh, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. His first monograph, Being in Action: The Theological Shape of Barth’s Ethical Vision, was awarded a John Templeton Award for Theological Promise in 2009, and he has since published Barth: A Guide for the Perplexed, co-edited The Cambridge Companion to Reformed Theology, and edited the church resource Learn: Understanding Our Faith. He served as Managing Editor and then Editor of the International Journal of Systematic Theology for a decade, before becoming its Senior Editor in 2016; he also serves as the current co-Chair of the AAR Reformed Theology and History Group Steering Committee, having been a Member of the same since 2012, and as a member of the AAR Friedrich Schleiermacher Group. He served on the Steering Committee of the Society for the Study of Theology between 2008 and 2011, and as the Society’s Treasurer from 2013 to 2016. He is an ordained elder in the Church of Scotland, and participates in diverse ways in the life of the church, at both local and national levels.

WILLIAM RADER

William Rader studied with Karl Barth at the University of Basel in 1960-1961. He is a pastor in the United Church of Christ, and has a special concern for the relation of theology to the racial divide. William’s doctoral dissertation for the University of Basel, entitled The Church and Racial Hostility, was published in 1978. A new edition appeared in 2011. Rader has served two parishes in inner cities with majority African-American populations. He has taught part-time in the New Testament department of Lancaster Theological Seminary, Lancaster PA. Translator of the book by Eberhard Busch, Der Freiheit zugetan: Christlicher Glaube heute im Gespräch mit dem Heidelberger Katechismus, he studied with the author under Karl Barth. He presently lives in Dauphin, Pennsylvania.

PATTY RICH

With a background in literature and language acquisition pedagogy, Patty has studied and taught on five continents. She has done academic, military, and commercial translations, including work for the History Channel and the World Council of Churches. One of her particular interests is paleography. Patty is a native of Pennsylvania, and she presently lives in Basel, Switzerland. She is married and the mother of three grown children. Patty is a candidate for ministry in the Swiss Reformed Church.

ROSS WRIGHT

Ross McGowan Wright is the Rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal), in Richmond, Virginia and teaches at Randolph-Macon College (Ashland, Virginia) and the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. He is the translator of Barth’s Lectures on Ephesians (Baker Academic, 2017) and author of “Some Reflections on Translating and Analyzing Karl Barth’s Ephesians Lectures,” Letter from the Karl Barth-Archives (2009). He holds a BA in English from Davidson College (1976), including a year at the Faculté des Lettres, University of Montpellier, France; a MDiv. from Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, Ambridge, Pennsylvania (1981), a ThM in Systematic Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary (2003), and a PhD in Systematic Theology from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland (2007), where he was awarded a Russell Trust Grant for Academic Research for work at the Karl Barth Archives in Basel, Switzerland. He is fellow of the School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee (2009) and was designated a Scholar of Promise by the Episcopal Church Foundation (2005). In addition to his pastoral work, teaching, and research, he is a free-lance trombonist and plays with groups throughout the Richmond area, including the Richmond Pops Band, the University of Richmond Symphony, and the orchestras for Lee Playhouse and Swift Creek Mill Theatre. He has been married to Lynda Wornom Wright since 1985, and they have three sons.