Dietrich Bonhoeffer is recognized as a deeply spiritual man, a Protestant Luteran pastor, a Christian thinker, theologian, and an active oppositionist of Nazism. Due to his devotion to Christian ideas, significant contribution to the modern theology, and bold resistance to the policy of Hitler, Bonhoeffer remains increasingly influential figure in the recent Christian history.
Bonhoeffer was all his life consequent and diligent learner of Christian theology. At the age of 14, he announced that wanted to study theology, and at the age of 21, already gained a doctorate in theology for his influential thesis The Communion of Saints. The dissertation he developed his strong argument that the church was “Christ existing as community” what means that only Christ is the center of the Christian community. Later, he studied at New York’s Union Theological Seminary where he deeply learnt ideas on the church’s role in the cause for civil rights and economic justice. By 1931 Bonhoeffer had returned to Berlin and began a teaching career. At this time Bonhoeffer completed a second dissertation, called is required to teach in German universities entitled Act and Being. At the University of Berlin, he taught subjects on systematic theology. In addition to inspiring his students to academic excellence, Bonhoeffer inspired loyalty by getting to know them and by spending time with them on outings. Deep learning of foundation of Christian Theology helped him to expend his academic knowledge and to develop a practical interpretation of the Gospels, to rethink the concept of the church involvement in social justice, and to encourage his interest in ecumenism.
Bonhoeffer’s writings made a significant contribution to development of foundation of Cristian theology. The central figure in Bonhoeffer’s theology is Christ. In his works, he gave an explanation of the uniqueness of Jesus as God and Man at the same time. His view on Christology he developed in his early book Christ the Center. Bonhoeffer’s Christological understanding of reality is inseparable from his understanding of ethics. He considered ethics as not a set of standards and values, but as the reality of God as revealed in Christ. He wrote about it in his work Ethics, “the bold endeavor to speak about the way in which the form of Jesus Christ takes form in our world.”(Ethics, 89) It means that the life of true Christians should be fulfilled by God, and they should act according reality. His book Life Together immediately became a modern classic. In the book he shows the significant of Christian community and defines it as one of the highest value of Christian life, “The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.” (97)Bonhoeffer’s last work Letters and Papers from Prison composed during his two years in prison is well known as a correspondence with his family and became the culmination of his thought. This publication created a theological sensation because Bonhoeffer explored there new possibilities for Christian faith in a “religionless” world. In his prison letters, Bonhoeffer raised questions about the identity and role of Christianity and the church in a 'world come of age.' He stated that the church as institution failed his role in the face of Nazism and saw this challenge as an opportunity of renewal for Christianity. Bonhoeffer’s writings became remarkable legacy in Christian Theology.
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Bonhoeffer was convinced that he was called to work of the ministry. He enthusiastically took on responsibilities of a pastor. His first practice was at a church in Barcelona, Spain, where he was serving as a curate under the supervision of the pastor. His pastoral ministry there was marked by the initiation of a series of programs that included additional worship for the children, teaching, and becoming an advocate for addressing the social ills of the community. Living in the city gave Bonhoeffer the opportunity to see poverty first hand and helped the poor. Through his sermons, he united and taught his parishioners that Christian community is a spiritual reality and is formed through and in Jesus Christ. “We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.” (38) In his sermons, he used “proper words” to show links to the real life and explained question: “Who is Christ actually for us today?” The heart of Bonhoeffer was fitted by spiritual love to other with whom he shared wide Christian community, found it the central ethical task to afford opportunities to be there for others. Numerus examples how he genuinely cared about those to whom he was charged to care can be found in the book Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker by Andrew Root. His theology was shaped by what he was learning as a pastor.
Bonhoeffer actively resisted to evil in the face of Hitler. Despite the fact that a significant part of the German Christian Church sympathized and welcomed the election of Hitler, Bonhoeffer became a firm opponent of his philosophy. In the faith statement called the Bethel Confession, he censured Hitler’s ideas of Aryanism and the genocidal elimination of the Jewish people. Moreover, he argued that the Church had a responsibility to act against such kind of nationalistic policy. He said, “We have for once learned to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled, in short, from the perspective of those who suffer. Mere waiting and looking on is not Christian behavior. Christians are called to compassion and action.” Rejecting Nazi ideology, he was very concerned that Nazi ideology infiltrated to the church, so he participated in the creation of a separate Church. As a result, he became one of the leaders of the Confessing Church which was created in contrast to the Nazi-supported German Christian movement. Then, the Confessing Church established five underground seminaries for resistance; Bonhoeffer was the director of one of these seminaries. Also for four years he worked as a messenger for the German resistance movement, made contacts with associates of the British government, and helped German Jews escape to neutral Switzerland. All his actions were results of his pacifist convictions, Christian beliefs, and personal responsibility to resist to evil.
Bonhoeffer was devoted disciple of Christ. A key aspect is relation with Christ he saw in following to Him. He saw his responsibility to imitate Jesus life and his teaching. His obedience and disciple was costly because he was denying himself in feelings and material things. Also he took up his cross submitting himself to God’s plan for his life, and investing all that he was and had for Jesus and his purposes. Bonhoeffer’s life was embodying all those ethics principles. Bonhoeffer insisted that the church, like the Christians, had to share in the sufferings of God because it makes people much healthier and stronger. He called that suffering is the badge of true discipleship. All his life he was deeply committed to his views. Till last minutes of his life he continued to minister his fellows in prison. The camp doctor who witnessed the execution of Bonhoeffer later wrote,' I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, before taking off his prison garb, kneeling on the floor praying fervently to his God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer.' (67) Bonhoeffer’s life was a sincere imitation of Christ when he suffered for standing up for truth and was executed for acting on his deep beliefs.
“Bonhoeffer’s life and death have given us great hope for the future. He has set a model for a new type of true leadership inspired by the gospel, daily ready for martyrdom and death imbued by a new spirit of Christian humanism and a creative sense of civic duty. The victory which he has won was a victory for us all, a conquest never to be undone, of love, light and liberty.”
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