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.
Karl BarthRead
When we speak of our virtues we are competitors, when we confess our sins we become brothers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Discussing virtues breeds competition, while confessing faults fosters brotherhood.
This quote by Karl Barth highlights the contrast between boasting about one's virtues, which can lead to comparisons and rivalry among individuals, versus admitting one's weaknesses or sins, which encourages humility and a sense of unity among people. Such confessions can create bonds of empathy and understanding, suggesting that shared vulnerabilities can lay the foundation for true camaraderie.
Themes
VirtuesSinsBrotherhoodHumilityCompetition
In practice
Example use cases
In a team-building workshop, this quote can be shared to encourage openness and vulnerability among team members.
More from Karl Barth
All quotes βConscience is the perfect interpreter of life.
Karl BarthRead
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.
Karl BarthRead
In the Church of Jesus Christ there can and should be no non-theologians.
Karl BarthRead
Christian worship is the most momentous, most urgent, most glorious action that can take place in human life.
Karl BarthRead
Religion is the possibility of the removal of every ground of confidence except confidence in God alone.
Karl BarthRead
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