Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.

In literature
In John Updike's Roger's Version Roger Lambert is a professor of religion. Election
One of the most influential and controversial features of Barth's Dogmatics was his doctrine of election (Church Dogmatics II/2). Barth wrote a 1960 article for The Christian Century regarding the "East-West question" in which he denied any inclination toward Eastern communism and stated he did not wish to live under Communism or wish anyone to be forced to do so; he acknowledged a fundamental disagreement with most of those around him writing: "I do not comprehend how either politics or Christianity require or even permit such a disinclination to lead to the conclusions which the West has drawn with increasing sharpness in the past 15 years.

His influence expanded well beyond the academic realm to mainstream culture leading him to be featured on the cover of Time on April 20 1962. " The most prolific theologian of the twentieth century his theological thought emphasized the sovereignty of God particularly through his interpretation of the Calvinistic doctrine of election. The most accurate description of his work might be "a theology of the Word.