When Dietrich Bonhoeffer was 14 years old, he announced to his family that he had chosen to be a theologian, and they were not impressed. However, as he became one of the most fearless and outspoken Christian leaders against Hitler, the family completely supported him. There have been many books written on Bonhoeffer's life as one of the greatest disciples of Jesus Christ in the 20th century. The author of Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, Eric Metaxas published the most comprehensive biography of DB in 40 years, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.
At 20, Bonhoeffer had an epiphany about the church while visiting Rome. Metaxas writes, "To think of the church as something universal would change everything and would set in motion the entire course of Bonhoeffer's remaining life." DB listened to many major theologians, pastors and priests during his stays in Rome, Barcelona, London and New York. He grappled with the question, "Can one be a Christian and a Nationalist at the same time?" During Hitler's Third Reich, the answer was no. Even in our present time, this question is still a challenge. Should a Christian put nationalism before faith?
Bonhoeffer's Clarity in His Answers to Questions of Doubt and Faith
Other questions Bonhoeffer wrestled with were "Do we need the church? Do we still need God? He answered, "The Church exists and God exists, and we are asked whether we are willing to be of service, for God needs us." At another time, DB questioned, "Where God is to be found?" and his answer was "the cross of Jesus," and concluded, "This is the message of the Bible, not only in the New but also in the Old Testament."
When Hitler first presented his scheme to eradicate bapitised Jews from the Church, DB gave a speech in which he stated, "Where Jew and German stand together under the Word of God, here is the proof whether a church is still the church or not." He also said, "God could not help them unless they acted out of faith and obedience." DB often spoke and wrote about the necessity of obedience. It was the factor in challenging those who were willing to receive the grace of God, but not walk the walk. He called this "cheap grace." What did he mean by cheap grace? In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer states."Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."
Eric Metaxas wrote, "Bonhoeffer advocated a Christianity that seemed too worldly for traditional Lutheran conservatives and too pietistic for theological liberals." Even now, Christian liberals will call him an evangelical, whereas, evangelicals will call him a liberal. My conclusion is that Bonhoeffer can not be put in a box. His outspokeness in the face of brutal injustice was radical for his time because any German who spoke out was in danger. In Germany he was considered conservative because he took the Bible seriously, even though he made some remarks that can be misconstrued, the consistency of his walk reveals his faith.
As HItler and the SS became more insanely brutal towards Jews and took over more and more European countries, DB wrote many words for those who were struggling and suffering, "We cannot be constant with the fact that God's cause is not always the successful one, that we really could be "unsuccessful": and yet be on the right road. But this is where we find out whether we have begun in faith or in a burst of enthusiasm."
A Martyr or a War Hero?
As the war progressed, Hitler's policies included taking over all of Europe, getting rid of the Jews and make the Aryan race dominant, as well as destroying the Church and exterminating those who were disabled. DB had a minor part in the conspiracy towards Hitler, the famous 'Operation Valkyrie,'
but he and his brother Klaus, and two brothers-in-law were arrested before the plot failed. From his prison cell, he heard how Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg planted a bomb to kill Hitler to make way for a coup by a group of top army commanders. Hitler was only injured and the coup went no further.
In one book review on Eric Metaxas' Bonhoeffer, Jason B. Hood posed that DB was not a martyr, but a war hero. Bonhoeffer was hanged as a counterspy, co-conspirator, and one of the leading and most outspoken pastors in all of Germany right before the Allied forces arrived and Hitler committed suicide. On the day DB died, the camp doctor, H. Fischer-Hullstrug confessed, "I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God." He was not a "war hero" because a war hero is one who fought with valor in obedience to his county and his commander-in-chief. Instead, Bonhoeffer was one of the heroes of the resistance. Yet, as a major theologian and pastor to the Confessing Church (an alternative church to what became the German Church in the Third Reich), he was a martyr of the caliber of Sir Thomas Moore, who refused to continue to follow Henry VIII. Bonhoeffer is an inspiration to Christians, Jews, and activists against injustice. One of his sayings is: "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."
References
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959, 1995.
Hood, John B. "Redeeming Bonhoeffer (The Book)," Christianity Today, Feb. 7, 2010.
Metaxas, Eric. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010.
Carmen Sterba - Carmen Sterba has a B.A. in Far East Asian Studies and an M.A. in Literature. She is keen about Japanese history & Asian American ...
