“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!
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
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.
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.
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.
People are right though preacher - you're no poet!
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.