Message from the Pastor - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Some call him a martyr. Others, a spy and assassin. But before his arrest and execution by the Nazis in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor and theologian. He wrote several books, mostly notably, The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together.
Drawn to theology at a young age, Bonhoeffer completed his doctorate at age 21. A few years later he moved to New York for a year -long fellowship at Union Theological Seminary. During this time, he attended Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and developed an interested in racial and social injustice. It was there that he began to see Jesus as being with and among marginalized people.
After returning to Germany, Bonhoeffer become a lecturer in systematic theology and was appointed as a young adult representative to the forerunner to the World Council of Churches. In 1931, at the age of 25, he was ordained as a pastor.
His promising academic career took a turn with the Nazis’ assent to power. Bonhoeffer soon emerged as a leader in the Confessing Church, a resistance movement that opposed Hitler’s efforts to create a single, pro-Nazi German Church. In 1934, alongside over 100 pastors, theologians, and lay leaders, he signed the Barmen Declaration. This document opposed Christian nationalism and asserted that the church was not an agent of the state. Over time, most members of the Confessing Church were either silenced or sent to concentration camps.
Bonhoeffer’s role in the Confession Church is often overshadowed by his alleged involvement in a failed assignation attempt of Adolf Hitler. For different reasons, this aspect of his life has caused both evangelical and progressive Christians to question if his theology might have advocated morally questionable actions to prevent a greater evil.
In recent years, Bonhoeffer’s life and writings seem to have gained renewed interest. People of faith across the theological spectrum are asking, “What insights can we glean from Bonhoeffer about the relationship between personal faith and social responsibility?”
On February 9 and 16, I’ll delve deeper into Bonhoeffer’s life and writings. His book, Call to Discipleship, considered a classic of Christian thought, will guide our exploration. Centered on the Sermon on the Mount, this book lays out what Bonhoeffer believes it means to follow Christ.
During this two-week series, I’ll set aside the labels that have been attached to him since his tragic death. While some consider him a martyr, Bonhoeffer himself did not want to be remembered as such. Others have called him a spy and assassin, but those labels are more fiction than historical fact.
I prefer to think of him as a deeply pastoral theologian whose thoughts about grace, faith, and responsibility offer us insights for how we might live out our faith in ways that make a difference in today’s world. The Cost of Discipleship was written many years before his arrest and execution. If Bonhoeffer could write to us today and speak into our time, what would he tell us about following Christ and living faithfully in a secular world?
Blessings,
Donna