In 1914, Barth decided in the summer of 1916 to write a commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Romans as a way of rethinking his theological inheritance.
Protestant Liberal theology had played a significant role in the rise of German nationalism prior to World War I.
It was the first edition of the work, which earned Barth his invitation to teach at the University of Göttingen and which Karl Adam said fell "like a bombshell on the theologians' playground.
"[1] In October 1920 Barth decided that he needed to revise the first edition and worked for the next eleven months on rewriting the commentary, finishing around September 1921.
While famous for its use of dialectic,[3] some scholars have argued that Barth makes extensive use of analogy in the work as well.