When we speak of our virtues we are competitors, when we confess our sins we become brothers.
Karl BarthRead
We have before us the fiendishness of business competition and the world war, passion and wrongdoing, antagonism between classes and moral depravity within them, economic tyranny above and the slave spirit below.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the negative aspects of society, including competition, conflict, and moral decay.
Karl Barth's quote reflects on the darker elements of human society, emphasizing how business competition can lead to moral depravity and social antagonism. It suggests that economic struggles and class conflicts create a tyrannical environment, ultimately impacting the human spirit and ethical standards.
Themes
CompetitionMoral DecayEconomic TyrannySocial ConflictHuman Spirit
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech addressing corporate ethics, one might say, 'As we confront the fiendishness of business competition, let us remember Karl Barth's insights on moral responsibility.'
More from Karl Barth
All quotes →Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life.
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That the zeal for God's honor is also a dangerous passion, that the Christian must bring with him the courage to swim against the tide instead of with it... accept a good deal of loneliness, will perhaps be nowhere so clear and palpable as in the church, where he would so much like things to be different. Yet he cannot and he will not refuse to take this risk and pay this price... he belongs where the reformation of the church is underway or will again be underway.
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In the Church of Jesus Christ there can and should be no non-theologians.
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Christian worship is the most momentous, most urgent, most glorious action that can take place in human life.
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Religion is the possibility of the removal of every ground of confidence except confidence in God alone.
Karl BarthRead
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