Karl Barth

In 1919 Karl Barth (1886-1968), a young Swiss Theologian, began working through the problems posed by the First World War and the failure of liberal theology to account for such a dark episode in human history. The outcome of this was his commentary The Epistle To The Romans, which opened the way for a revival of orthodox Protestantism based on the Bible.
Barth continued to argue that liberal theology was bankrupt and to teach that God's word stands over against man and judges him. By 1932, when he published the first volume of his Church Dogmatics, which made the resurrection of Jesus the focal point of Christianity, Barth was recognized as the most influential current theologian. After 1945 the influence of Barth's theology began to wane but still today it has its champions.