Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer La Casa de Cristo

Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church November 4, 2012

Topics � Family � Academic training � Time in Barcelona, New York � Confessing Church � Time in London � Finkenwalde Seminary � Return to U. S. � Agent of Abwehr � Arrest, imprisonment, execution � Legacy

Family � � � Father, Karl – professor of neurology and psychiatry, University of Berlin; director of psychiatric clinic, Charite Hospital Mother, Paula von Hase – daughter of Clare von Hase, pupil of Liszt; granddaughter of Karl von Hase, distinguished church historian, preacher to Kaiser Wilhelm II Paula home-schooled each child until age 6 or 7 A family saying: Germans had their backs broken twice in the course of their lives: first at school, then during military service

Family � Eight Bonhoeffer children ◦ Karl Friedrich (1899 -1957), chemist, worked with Einstein and Max Planck on splitting the atom ◦ Walter (1899 -1918), killed in action, WWI ◦ Klaus (1901 -45), lawyer, general counsel for Lufthansa; hospital orderly, WWI; executed 4/23/45 ◦ Ursula (1902 -83), married lawyer Rüdiger Schleicher, who was executed 4/23/45

Family � Eight Bonhoeffer children ◦ Christel (1903 -65), married to Hans von Dohnanyi, who was executed 4/9/45 (? ) ◦ Dietrich (1906 -45), executed 4/9/45 – 23 days before German surrender ◦ Sabine (1906 -99), Dietrich’s twin, married to Jewish lawyer/professor Gerhard Leibholz ◦ Susanne (1909 -91), married to theologian Walter Dress

Academic training � Announcement at 14: Want to be theologian � Family thought he would follow in father’s footsteps � Brother Klaus: Church is “poor, feeble, boring, petty, bourgeois” � Dietrich: “In that case, I shall have to reform it”

Academic training � First year at Tübingen University, took trip to Rome � 1924, enters University of Berlin ◦ Center of liberal theology – Schleiermacher, Adolf von Harnack ◦ Bonhoeffer more aligned with Karl Barth, neoorthodox Swiss theologian

Academic training � Harnack: “Unscientific” to speculate on who God is; just study texts and their history � Barth: The God on the other side of the fence revealed himself through the texts; the only reason for the texts was to know him ◦ The ONLY way to know anything about God was to rely on revelation FROM God

Academic training � Completed age 21 doctorate at � Sanctorum Communio: A Dogmatic Inquiry into the Sociology of the Church � Question that occupied Bonhoeffer his whole life: What is the church? ◦ His answer: It is Christ, existing as churchcommunity

Time in Barcelona, NYC � Too young to be a pastor; vicarage in Barcelona, 1928 � Post-graduate 1930 -31 � Studied Niebuhr � Critical study at Union, under Reinhold of theological liberalism at Union; found real preaching and faith in Harlem; Adam Clayton Powell Sr. “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; man’s capacity for injustice makes democracy necessary”

Time in NYC � Friends with a student from France, Jean Lasserre All Quiet on the Western Front � Saw together � Lasserre said the Sermon on the Mount had influenced his theology

1929? � Back in Berlin, writing Act and Being, a continuation of his dissertation � Completing it would make him eligible to be a university lecturer � Submitted, accepted in 1931 after he returned from America

Confessing Church

Confessing Church � Bonhoeffer opposed Nazism from the start – 1/30/33 � Radio address two days later warning against the idea of Der Führer � 4/33 – Told his fellow churchmen that the church must resist Hitler, speak up for Jews, who have no voice � 7/33 – Hitler imposes new church elections; rigged, and most positions went to Nazi sympathizers ◦ Lutheran churches of Bavaria, Hanover, Württemberg remain “intact, ” not corrupted

Confessing Church � 8/33 – Opposition church leaders ask Bonhoeffer to write Bethel Confession; after revisions, he refuses to sign – too watered down � 9/33 – Bonhoeffer helps organize the Pfarrernotbund, forerunner to Confessing Church � 9/33 – National church accepts the Aryan Paragraph – prohibits non-Aryans from parish post � 9/33 – Bonhoeffer refuses parish post in Berlin in protest

Confessing Church � 5/34 – Confessing Church founded at Barmen in opposition to Nazi Party; Karl Barth writes the Barmen Declaration ◦ Christ, not Hitler, is the head of the church � Not a large movement, but a substantial source of opposition to Nazis

Time in London � Disheartened, Bonhoeffer takes a two-year appointment in London in autumn 1933 � Becomes churches � Barth pastor to two German-speaking accused Bonhoeffer of running away � Bonhoeffer used time to generate contacts, support in the ecumenical movement; very important for later activities

Finkenwalde Seminary � � � Bonhoeffer starts underground seminary in 1935 Seminarians led communal life Had to meditate on Scripture each day – and sing! Nazis closed in September 1937; arrested 27 pastors and students by November “Seminary on the run” taking place as he traveled from village to village Cost of Discipleship published in 1937

Return to U. S. � 2/38 – Bonhoeffer makes initial contact with German Resistance; introduced by Dohnanyi � Learned that war was imminent; could not swear an oath to Hitler, was concerned about being drafted � Went to the U. S. in 6/39; friends arranged to help protect him � Returned quickly to Germany; felt called by God to be with his people

Agent of Abwehr � Back in Germany, harassed by Nazis ◦ Had to report regularly to police ◦ Forbidden to publish in 1941 � Joined the Abwehr, a branch of military intelligence AND a center of resistance � Dohnanyi brought him in; claimed Bonhoeffer’s wide ecumenical contacts would be good for Germany � Gave him cover to travel, seek support from other nations for the German resistance � Bonhoeffer knew he was supporting and engaging in a movement to assassinate Hitler

Arrest � Arrested April 6, 1943 � He, Dohnanyi helped 14 Jews (Abwehr agents) get to Switzerland; sent large sums of money to them; were charged with corruption � Charges ◦ ◦ Subverting Nazi policy toward Jews Evading military call-up Using Abwehr to circumvent ban on public speaking Using Abwehr to further Confessing Church activities

Imprisonment, execution � In a military prison at Tegel for a year and a half ◦ Supportive of fellow inmates ◦ Respected by guards; one offered to help him escape � July fails 20, 1944 – one of several plots to kill Hitler ◦ 9/44 – Abwehr documents found, tie Bonhoeffer to assassination plot ◦ Transferred to Reich security prison, then Buchenwald in 2/45, then Flossenbürg ◦ Diary of Abwehr head found 4/4/45; Hitler goes into rage ◦ Bonhoeffer hangs on 4/9/45, two weeks before Flossenbürg is liberated

Legacy � Christocentric approach appeals to conservative, confession-minded Protestants � Social justice, “religionless Christianity” appeal to liberal Protestants � The Incarnation – combining body and spirit, affirming flesh – makes it unacceptable to speak of God and the world in terms of two spheres � Christians within it � Christians should not retreat from the world but act must be a voice for those who can’t speak for themselves

Legacy � What is truth? ◦ God’s standard is more than merely not lying ◦ To be true to God meant having a relationship with him, not living legalistically by rules and principles � Be willing to act in response to God ◦ He felt moved beyond the easy legalism of truth-telling ◦ Believed that responsible includes readiness to accept both guilt and freedom ◦ To live in fear of incurring guilt is itself sinful ◦ God wants us to operate out of freedom and joy to do what is right and good, not out of fear of making a mistake ◦ Impossible to avoid incurring guilt, but if you wish to live responsibly and fully, you will be willing to do so

Next week � Read through page 56 – foreword, memoir, introduction, first chapter � Bring your favorite Psalm!