Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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

3. 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

4. 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; grand-daughter 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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”

8. 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, neo-orthodox Swiss theologian

9. 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

10. Academic training • Completed doctorate at age 21 • 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 church-community

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

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

13. 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

14. Confessing Church

15. Confessing Church • Bonhoeffer opposed Nazism from the start – 1/30/33 • Radio address two days later warning against the idea of DerFührer • 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

16. 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

17. 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

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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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 20, 1944 – one of several plots to kill Hitler fails • 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

24. 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 should not retreat from the world but act within it • Christians must be a voice for those who can’t speak for themselves

25. 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

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