May 20 – A Modern Martyr
By the age of 21, Dietrich Bonhoeffer had traveled throughout Europe studying religion, studied with Karl Barth and received his doctorate in theology from the University of Berlin. He spent the next two years in Spain as a pastor in training and became taught a great deal on the church’s influence on society, decrying the minimal impact that the church had because too much time was spent making Christ religious, rather than making Him accessible.
In 1930, upon his return to Germany, he was still too young to be ordained as a pastor at the age of 24-25, so he traveled to the United States to do postgraduate work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He wasn’t terribly impressed with the theology that was taught, but became very involved with an Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, teaching Sunday School there and falling in love with African Spirituals.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Bonhoeffer was back in Germany and lecturing at the University of Berlin. He had become part of the Confessing Church in direct opposition to the German Christians which had been infiltrated by Nazi ideas and supported by Hitler.
In 1935, Bonhoeffer became head of a seminary of the Confessing Church which was closed in 1937. At this point, he was forbidden to publish or do any public speaking. He was drawn into the resistance movement by a brother-in-law, believing that Hitler was the Antichrist and plotting to kill him. Bonhoeffer traveled to the United States at the invitation of Union Seminary in an effort to protect him from the turmoil and threats on his life. Once he arrived, he believed that he had made a terrible error and that he needed to face the trials that Germany was about to face with his countrymen.
He returned to Germany and in 1943 was arrested for smuggling Jews into Switzerland. From prison he wrote several pieces and many letters. He had an enormous impact on the faith of the other prisoners and many of the guards, one of whom offered to help him escape. Bonhoeffer refused, concerned that his escape would place his family in a position of attack by the Nazis.
His part as a conspirator in plots to kill Hitler and as a double agent had been hidden until the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler was exposed. As the conspirators’ documents were revealed, so was Bonhoeffer’s earlier participation.
Hitler ordered that everyone be killed. On April 9, 1945, three weeks before the Russians captured Berlin and a month before the Nazis fell, Bonhoeffer was hanged in Flossenberg Prison Camp.
Bonhoeffer spent his years exploring the depths of God. Theologians continue to debate his works, trying to understand his teaching. He used the phrase ‘religionless Christianity’ and this has confounded many theologians who try to understand his teachings on the relationship between the Christian and the world. He taught about ‘cheap grace’ and called Christians to a faith of self-denial in his book “The Cost of Discipleship.” He believed that real religion meant following God – even if it meant to the death, a belief that he lived and died for.
By the age of 21, Dietrich Bonhoeffer had traveled throughout Europe studying religion, studied with Karl Barth and received his doctorate in theology from the University of Berlin. He spent the next two years in Spain as a pastor in training and became taught a great deal on the church’s influence on society, decrying the minimal impact that the church had because too much time was spent making Christ religious, rather than making Him accessible.
In 1930, upon his return to Germany, he was still too young to be ordained as a pastor at the age of 24-25, so he traveled to the United States to do postgraduate work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He wasn’t terribly impressed with the theology that was taught, but became very involved with an Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, teaching Sunday School there and falling in love with African Spirituals.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Bonhoeffer was back in Germany and lecturing at the University of Berlin. He had become part of the Confessing Church in direct opposition to the German Christians which had been infiltrated by Nazi ideas and supported by Hitler.
In 1935, Bonhoeffer became head of a seminary of the Confessing Church which was closed in 1937. At this point, he was forbidden to publish or do any public speaking. He was drawn into the resistance movement by a brother-in-law, believing that Hitler was the Antichrist and plotting to kill him. Bonhoeffer traveled to the United States at the invitation of Union Seminary in an effort to protect him from the turmoil and threats on his life. Once he arrived, he believed that he had made a terrible error and that he needed to face the trials that Germany was about to face with his countrymen.
He returned to Germany and in 1943 was arrested for smuggling Jews into Switzerland. From prison he wrote several pieces and many letters. He had an enormous impact on the faith of the other prisoners and many of the guards, one of whom offered to help him escape. Bonhoeffer refused, concerned that his escape would place his family in a position of attack by the Nazis.
His part as a conspirator in plots to kill Hitler and as a double agent had been hidden until the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler was exposed. As the conspirators’ documents were revealed, so was Bonhoeffer’s earlier participation.
Hitler ordered that everyone be killed. On April 9, 1945, three weeks before the Russians captured Berlin and a month before the Nazis fell, Bonhoeffer was hanged in Flossenberg Prison Camp.
Bonhoeffer spent his years exploring the depths of God. Theologians continue to debate his works, trying to understand his teaching. He used the phrase ‘religionless Christianity’ and this has confounded many theologians who try to understand his teachings on the relationship between the Christian and the world. He taught about ‘cheap grace’ and called Christians to a faith of self-denial in his book “The Cost of Discipleship.” He believed that real religion meant following God – even if it meant to the death, a belief that he lived and died for.
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