Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German theologian, teacher and pastor. He was executed by the Nazis in 1945 in Flossenburg concentration camp. Days after the Nazis were democratically elected in Germany in 1933, Bonhoeffer began to speak against the theology of the Nazis, and speak for the Church of Jesus Christ.
Bonhoeffer had spent a year studying in New York at Union Seminary. It was a very liberal school, but he had followed the work of the Swiss theologian Karl Barth. Barth’s theology consisted of saying that Christianity was to follow the person of Jesus Christ. It lent itself to a personal relationship to the Saviour. Both Bonhoeffer and Barth used the techniques of higher criticism, but they ended up at a different place than most early 20th century theologians.
Bonhoeffer went to many African American churches during his year in America, and it seems to have been a life changing worship for him. He does not talk in terms of being born again, but he seems to have changed. He began to read the Bible everyday, and talked about the need to know Christ on a personal basis. Though he said that the rest of the American church was dead, but he was excited about the people who were former slaves, who had continued to believe.
And he became transformed by the Sermon on the Mount as well. It was the way to live in our world, and not a mandate for heavenly life. I had always heard about Bonhoeffer, but our book club is reading Eric Metaxas’ biography, and I have a deeper reverence for the ways that Bonhoeffer lived his faith in Nazi Germany, and confronted the Church and the Fuhrer.
I am not as strong in my faith, as Bonhoeffer and others who were part of the Confessing Church. The Nazis took over the German Lutheran Church, so that they would agree with the Nazi movement . Immediately after the Nazis took over in 1933, and Hitler became Chancellor, Jews were targeted for abuse and ridicule. Bonhoeffer stood up against these kinds of activities, but could not stop it. After being in England for a few years, he returned to Germany. As a matter of faith , he went back to Nazi Germany to see if he could change the way of history, and force the Church to be the Church.
In the end, he attempted with others to assassinate Hitler. They were unsuccessful, and he was executed for something else, but he was killed for trying to kill the Fuhrer. I would not try to assassinate anyone, but I would not judge Bonhoeffer for what he did. He had hoped it would end the suffering and carnage. He was a man of great faith, and was passionate about never having the church succumb to the power of the state.
As I have been reading about the role of the state and church in Germany, I have thought of the evangelical movement in the United States ( an maybe in Canada too) as they want the support of the President . Mr. Trump is not a man of faith, but he likes the Church to prop up his many opinions while he is President. What should the church do ? The Church should of Christ, and not of the state.
Fred Redekop
Ponder Anew 