One Church in Christ

“This is a careful and impressive study of Karl Barth’s early ecclesiology. It will be valuable to anyone with an interest in Barth’s theology, confessional theology, the unity of the church, or indeed Christian witness today.”


—Adam Neder, associate dean, School of Theology and Christian Ministry, Belmont University





“In this informative and accessible work, Troy Onsager explores Karl Barth’s life and theology in the critical 1920s and 1930s, during which Barth schematizes the church’s confession of faith as ecumenical yet particular, defined yet provisional. Barth’s ‘confessional quadrilateral,’ as Onsager labels it, undergirds Barth’s prophetic opposition to Nazism and charts a promising way forward for the confessional identity of the church today.”


—James R. Edwards, professor emeritus of theology, Whitworth University





“Troy Onsager’s One Church in Christ is a remarkably clear exposition of Barth’s development as a confessional theologian in the formative decades of the 1920s and 1930s. It sets forth not only Barth’s understanding of the Reformed confessions of the past but also casts light upon Barth’s own confessional identity. Onsager’s book reveals Barth’s confessionalism as one that is both particular in character and ecumenical in aspiration and in turn points to Barth’s continuing relevance for the church’s present task of confession.”


—Kimlyn J. Bender, professor of Christian theology, George W. Truett Theological Seminary





“Troy Onsager’s book provides priceless insights into a largely unexplored area of Karl Barth’s theology. Barth’s understanding and use of Reformed confessional heritage has profound ramifications, not only for students of Barth’s theology but for the church of twenty-first-century America. Far from mere declarations of belief, Onsager shows how confessional standards can be used to unite the church and bring it to greater health and deeper faith. A profoundly needed study for our day.”


—Mark Rayburn Patterson, president, Flourish Institute of Theology