jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThis article proposes a way of reading Karl Barth'sjats:italicChurch Dogmatics</jats:italic>backwards or ‘from the end’. Employing this method to explorejats:italicThe Doctrine of God</jats:italic>andjats:italicThe Doctrine of the Word of God</jats:italic>highlights two aspects of Barth's theology. The first is the importance of communion to Barth's account of the immanence and economy of God, especially in his understanding of God as the ‘Lord of Glory’. The second is Barth's careful balancing of christology and pneumatology across the first two volumes of thejats:italicDogmatics</jats:italic>through the use of a chiastic structure that underpins his construal of divine election and his account of divine revelation.</jats:p>