Translators’ Seminar

The Center for Barth Studies (CBS) is currently the central locus for Barth research in the world, with a consistently high, top-ten ranking on Google searches related to Karl Barth. It serves as the premier resource for scholars, students, and anyone else interested in Barth’s work. The CBS regularly hosts visiting scholars both domestically and internationally. Part of its mission is to make Barth’s work more accessible, both within the United States and globally. To this end, the CBS sponsors and hosts conferences every year, both at Princeton Theological Seminary and abroad, while also fostering a robust online presence. The CBS also has a long history of academic partnerships with institutions around the world.

The Barth Translators’ Seminar, a key program of the CBS, exists to foster the English-language reception of Karl Barth’s literary corpus by providing support and guidance for qualified translators and facilitating the publishing of as yet unavailable Barth resources for the 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 CBS have been an invaluable resource for the translators. In its biannual sessions, the Translators’ Seminar has developed standards for translation, provided expert guidance to active translators, and continues to serve as the material hub of the proposed translation project. The Seminar has recently published three volumes of their English translations with Westminster John Knox Press. The three volumes are the English translations of Barth’s Gespräche, and are published as Barth in Conversation (Volume 1, 1959-1962, Volume 2, 1963, and Volume 3, 1964-1968).

In 2018, the Center for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary received the Scholarly Editions and Translations Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to translate into English three volumes from The Lectures and Shorter Works of Karl Barth, 1905-1909, 1909-1914, and 1914-1921. These generous NEH grant funds enable the Seminar to meet twice per year to work together and translate these three volumes into English allowing for greater translation efficiency. The English translation of these three volumes will also be published by Westminster John Knox Press.

DARRELL GUDER

Project Director

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.

DAVID CHAO

Project Co-Manager

David C. Chao is Director of the Center for Asian American Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary. He has degrees from Yale University (BA), Regent College (MDiv), and Princeton Theological Seminary (ThM, PhD). He is author of the forthcoming book with Routledge entitled Concursus and Concept Use in Karl Barth’s Doctrine of Providence: Nature, Grace, and Norms. David has published in Zeitschrift für dialektische Theologie, is co-editor of the three-volume work on Karl Barth’s conversations (1959-1968), and taught at Princeton Theological Seminary and Princeton University. His research and writing focus on Asian American theology, the uses of Christian doctrine for liberation, the convergence and divergence of Protestant and Catholic dogmatics, and the theology of Karl Barth. David is Project Editor for the Barth Translators’ Seminar and is also a Translation Fellow.

MATTHIAS GOCKEL

Cultural-Literary Consultant

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

J. ROSS WAGNER

J. Ross Wagner (PhD, Duke University, 1999) is Associate Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School. Specializing in Paul’s letters and in Septuagint studies, he seeks to contribute to the recovery of theological exegesis through careful investigation of the ways scriptural interpretation shaped early Jewish and Christian communities. His publications include Heralds of the Good News: Paul and Isaiah in Concert in the Letter to the Romans (2002), Between Gospel and Election: Explorations in the Interpretation of Romans 9–11 (coedited with Florian Wilk, 2010), and Reading the Sealed Book: Old Greek Isaiah and the Problem of Septuagint Hermeneutics (2013). Wagner has been a Humboldt Research Fellow at the Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, Germany, and a member in residence at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton. He is currently at work on a book-length study exploring the impact of Isaiah’s oracles on Christian exegetes of the first five centuries CE.

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.

T.R. Niles

T.R. Niles is a postdoctoral researcher in New Testament Studies at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Niles offers introductory courses on the New Testament as well as courses on the Corpus Paulinum and on exegetical method. His dissertation,The Image of the Invisible God: An Exegetical Study of Colossians 1:15–20, will be published in the second series of Mohr Siebeck’s Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. In general, Niles’ research focuses on the intersection of the New Testament and the philosophy of the Roman Imperial era. Aside from his collaboration with the Karl Barth Translators’ Seminar, he is involved in other German-to-English translation projects. The latest include Reinhard Feldmeier’s The Spirit of God: Biblical Pneumatology in its Religious-Historical Context (Brill Schöningh, 2022), as well as Feldmeier’s short commentary on the Acts of the Apostles for the New Oxford Bible Commentary (Oxford University Press: forthcoming). When not working at the university, Niles enjoys exploring the Berner Oberland with his dog, Kalle.