On the 80th anniversary of his death, his message and his words continue to stand the test of time, and resonate with more authority than ever before.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer with students in 1932. / [link]Bundesarchiv, Bild[/link], Wikimedia Commons.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was the sixth child of an upper middle-class family in early 20th century Germany. His father held the first chair of neuropsychiatry in Berlin.
He was a pastor, theologian, writer and social activist. He wrote books that are extraordinarily relevant today as texts on Christology, ecclesiology and ethics: Who is and who was Jesus Christ, The Cost of Discipleship, Life Together, Ethics, and Resistance and Submission.
But, above all, his was a prophetic voice that denounced the dictatorship of Nazi fascism with deeds and words, aligning himself with an alternative way of understanding and living Christianity to the dominant hegemony through ‘The Confessing Church’ (a movement of churches opposed to nazism).
In 1933, Hitler ascended to power, not only as Chancellor of Germany, but as the ‘Führer’ (absolute and totalitarian leader) with the pretension of accumulating under his authority all the powers of the State: Executive, Legislative and Judicial, with the claim that “people have never been liberated with humanity and democracy”.
Bonhoeffer fought against becoming an accomplice to the atrocities of Nazism. First with his lectures and theological teaching. Then with his writings, and finally with active militancy as part of the German counter-espionage service.
In the midst of a broken and decaying world, where injustice, impunity and horror were rampant, Bonhoeffer embodied a dissident commitment to following Jesus that led him to give his life even unto death, because faith, he said, "does not lead us to religious questions, but to human tasks".
Today, his life, message and words continue to stand the test of time, and resonate with more authority than ever before:
“Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son, and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us” (The Cost of Discipleship)
What is the legacy Dietrich Bonhoeffer left to a current post-Christian era?
His prophetic mood: His life and work were a living testimony of faith in Jesus Christ. His memorial plaque sums it up: ‘Witness of Jesus Christ among his brethren’.
His witness is prophetic and martyrial, because his incorruptible faithfulness to the Gospel led him to suffer persecution, prison and death.
His evangelical radicalism: The life of piety that distinguished Bonhoeffer is relevant today, not only because his thought is a source of inspiration for contemporary theology, but also because the value of his exemplarity constitutes a permanent invitation to leave our comfort zone where comfort, mediocrity and unacceptable conformism take root.
His proposal of a Christianity for the world. For Bonhoeffer, the following of Jesus has to be practised in the world, and it is not the redemption of our anxieties, worries and sufferings, as if we could be magically abducted from reality, but the invitation to taste earthly life from the power of the Spirit in the midst of the conflicts of this history.
Bonhoeffer was imprisoned in 1943 and later tried and sentenced to death by hanging on 9 April 1945, a few days before the Allies entered Germany.
His last words were: “This is the end, for me the beginning of life”. The concentration camp doctor who witnessed the execution noted in his diary: “In the fifty years that I have worked as a doctor, I have never seen a man die so devoted to the will of God”. Soli Deo Gloria.
Eduardo Delás is a evangelical pastor in Valencia and Doctor in Systematic Theology.
[analysis]
[title]Join us to make EF sustainable[/title]
[photo][/photo]
[text]At Evangelical Focus, we have a sustainability challenge ahead. We invite you to join those across Europe and beyond who are committed with our mission. Together, we will ensure the continuity of Evangelical Focus and our Spanish partner Protestante Digital in 2025.
Learn all about our #TogetherInThisMission initiative here (English).
[/text][/analysis]
Las opiniones vertidas por nuestros colaboradores se realizan a nivel personal, pudiendo coincidir o no con la postura de la dirección de Protestante Digital.
Si quieres comentar o