encounter with Christ. Relying on a motif that is more contemplative than introspective, Barth’s understanding of the Christian life looks away from the self to Christ as the One who stands in our place and possesses all virtue for us in his vicarious incarnation and ascension. He is not enamoured with the idea of habitus or the belief that humans might develop virtue on their own; he sees the essence of Christian life as prayer and ethics. On the matter of sanctification in its progressive or experiential