“As Barth”: Entry #3

The third entry in the “As Barth” contest comes from Guy Davies, a Welsh preacher living in England who serves as pastor of Penknap Providence Church and Ebenezer Baptist Church. Guy is also the South West of England representative of the Protestant Truth Society.

As Calvin, not Barth
Make of me no Barthian,
On some things he was quite wrong,
I don' t want to follow his lead
Proper Calvinism's what I need.

Church Dogmatics don't make me read,
Those tomes will make my fingers bleed,
I haven't time to read that stuff,
Dogmatics in Outline is quite enough.

Like John Calvin I'd rather be,
He taught electing grace so free,
For sound doctrine he's the one,
Calvin's the better theologian.

Make me like Calvin, Lord,
A man who loves your holy Word,
I offer my whole heart to you,
Give me grace your work to do.


The contest will end on July 4, at which point we will have a poll to decide who is the winner. If you wish to enter the contest, email me here. See the original post for more information. If you have a blog, please pass along the information about the contest!

Comments

2 out of 5 stars just because this is an entertaining bit of satire...even though it is rubbish as poetry...
Halden said…
1 out of 5. Can't roll with that as poetry, or theology.
Guy Davies said…
Are you saying, gentlemen, that you don't like my "poem"?
Anonymous said…
No comment on the poetic quality, but Guy seems to have missed the spirit of the contest. After all, the original example also asked for God to make the writer love God as thoroughly as CALVIN, and not be a Calvinist.

The point wasn't to run Barth down, but to caution against the idolatry of Barthianism--something of which Barth himself constantly warned. Guy seems to substitute one "ism" for another, which is no help at all.
Guy Davies said…
MW-W,

I wasn't really expecting my entry to be taken that seriously. WTM seems to have caught my drift and is probably accurate re the poetic quality. Sorry if I've lowered the tone.
Ben Myers said…
Hey, you guys should stop being so mean to Guy! I think it's a fun and good-humoured entry (the technical term is "taking the piss").

Anyway, my favourite part is this rhyme (which really does rhyme as long as you sing it like Bob Dylan):

For sound doctrine he's the one,
Calvin's the better theologian.
Aric Clark said…
Lighten up folks, it's funny! I mean, seriously, the Church Dogmatics are finger-bleeding obnoxiously long!

People are right though preacher - you're no poet!
Guy Davies said…
Cheers Ben,

If my composition reminds you of Dylan, that it can't be that bad!

Aric,

Part of the joke is that it was meant to be doggerel.