Karel Blei was a minister of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. From 1987 to 1997 he was general secretary of the (then) Netherlands Reformed Church (now part of the Protestant Church). From 1989 to 1998 he was a member of the World Council of Churches Central Committee. From 1989 until 1997 he served as moderator of the (then) World Alliance of Reformed Churches Department of Theology. Allan Janssen (1948-2020) was a retired minister in the Reformed Church in America (RCA), a General Synod Professor for the RCA, a professor emeritus at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, an author of several books, and the translator of several Dutch theological works.
While the extreme Right seized power in Europe during the twentieth century, Karl Barth trained the church to resist fascist fake news. Karel Blei follows his courageous way from the twenties to the sixties and opens a fascinating panorama of theology in battle dress. --Maarten den Dulk, Professor emeritus of Practical Theology, Protestant Theological University, Netherlands A reader who wants to acquire an overview of Karl Barth's theology in the whole of its development--presented against the background of the turbulent times of its arising, well informed but not interrupted by scholarly debates--will find an excellent guide in Karel Blei. --Rinse H. Reeling Brouwer, Miskotte/Breukelman Chair for Theological Hermeneutics, Protestant Theological University, Amsterdam