Thank you, Father Reginald. I have a handout, and for this talk I'd like for us to begin with Karl Barth's first work of dogmatics.

His first work of dogmatics began in 1924. He was lecturing in Goetigan in 1924 and 25, and he held the Reformed Chair, and he under great pressure began this work that we know as the Goodman dogmatics and he invoked

St. Thomas' prayer.

So he begins how the present course is envisaged as the first and introductory part

of a series on dogmatics that will stretch over three semesters.

And so then he says that St. Thomas put as his prayer, what we know is the Conchate amici,

which Father Paul Murray has recently argued to be authentic to St. Thomas.

And so, merciful God, I ask that thou wilt grant, as thou pleasest, to seek earnestly,

to investigate carefully, to know truthfully, and to present perfectly to the glory of thy name. Amen.

Karl Bart then says, if there is any mortally, to know truthfully and to present perfectly to the glory of thy name, Amen.

Carl Bart then says,

if there is any mortally dangerous undertaking on earth,

any undertaking in which we have reason not only at the beginning,

but also in the middle and at the end,

to take the last resort of invoking the name of the most high,

then it is that of a summa theologica, a dogmatics. And I must add that in our day and our situation, such a prayer will have

to be made out of materially much deeper distress and perplexity than in the time of Thomas.

So Carl Bart then has this wonderful impression of St. Thomas' work of theology.

He continues, the manner in which Thomas pursued dogmatics leaves the impression of a holy, lofty,

beautiful, and joyful work of art. Not for nothing, he gives the doctor of the church a heavenly

halo, along with the virgin and martyr. But for us, presenting and studying dogmatics is a burden, a burden that we cannot and may

not and will not avoid, but still a burden.

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