Karl Barth is known as the "Church Father of the 20th Century". However, its legacy is controversial in Europe, especially in North America. Here the so-called neo-orthodoxy still dominates the Barth reception today. Bruce McCormack, in contrast, shows that Barth had been a dialectical and critical theologian since 1919. This Barth analysis is the prelude to his constructive Barth reception, in which he shows that Barth's emphasis on the divine election of humanity is incompatible with Barth's concept of divine freedom. McCormack then worked out the prolegomena, Christology and also the doctrine of the Trinity of his own theological draft, which Barth ultimately left behind.