Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas

Bonhoeffer studied to become a Theologian in the Berlin Institute and studied under some legendary professors, namely the great church historian and liberal theologian Adolph von Harnack. Bonhoeffer was much influenced by Karl Barth, who was presently influential in Germany and influential in Bonhoeffer's eventual move toward dialectical revelatory theology and away from von Harnack's historical-critical method of interpreting the bible. Bonhoeffer also applied himself to being a pastor, as he was very interested in the function of Christ's church as a body in our world. His seminary dissertation was titled Sanctum Communio. Bonhoeffer developed his theology amidst the rise of Nazism in a very tumultuous period.

While Hitler was gaining in popularity, Bonhoeffer was one among many voices in opposition to his power politics and especially his attempted control of the church. A law that was handed down to the German Evangelical Church from Hitler's early government was known as the Aryan paragraph. This called for all pastors in the church to step down if they were not pure aryans. Bonhoeffer had a good friend Franz Hildebrandt who was a converted Jew who was at the time a pastor in the church. This led Bonhoeffer to begin to teach that the German church had departed from Christianity and he called for a split which was eventually effected. The new Church that he and other pastors of his persuasion was called the Confessing Church and they tried to operate in a way that would allow for church and state separation, so they could be autonomous. This church lasted throughout Hitler's reign, but in many ways was an underground church in the later half of his tenure. Bonhoeffer was a primary shepherd of the church and established a seminary to teach young pastors.

Where things really started heating up was after the Nuremberg laws and when Hitler started invading foreign countries and his popularity at first swooned. Even some in the Confessing Church were at first struck by Hitler's promise to rebuild Germany to prominence that is had prior to WWI. Bonhoeffer was one of the lone pastors who saw through him from the start and continued to the end.

Bonhoeffer through family ties was always an insider to the various plots to bring down Hitler. He was at the heart of the German resistance and eventually went to work for his brother in law who was a Abwher agent. Bonhoeffer traveled on behalf of the Abhwer to Britain, Sweden and Switzerland to communicate efforts to the allies. He helped smuggle Jews out of Germany to Switzerland in one operation. It was this operation that he was ultimately arrested for, but he was involved in a much deeper plot to kill Hitler, although they never quite linked him to it. The German officers who were part of the resistance had tried a number of times to detonate a bomb in Hitler's presence unsuccessfully but eventually did during the operation known as Valkyrie. A movie was recently made starring Tom Cruise about this plot. Bonhoeffer spent the last couple of years of his life in prison and is well known for his writings from prison. He was also engaged to be married to Maria von Wedemeyer at this time and the story is a wonderful love story.

I was so impressed by Bonhoeffer's constant desire to do God's will. He constantly prayed and studied scripture and knew the mind of Christ in his will for him. He can truly be considered a later day apostle, one who truly represented Christ and one who's motives were constantly being shaped by his relationship to Christ. Bonhoeffer coined the term "religionless Christianity" in which he meant that we needed a core relationship with God and not a docrinal dogmatic type of lifestyle.

He wrote to Eberhard Bethge, April 1944:

What is bothering me incessantly is the question what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today. The time when people could be told everything by means of words, whether theological or pious, is over, and so is the time of inwardness and conscience--and that means the time of religion in general. We are moving toward a completely religionless time; people as they are now simply cannot be religious anymore. Even those who honestly describe themselves as "religious" do not in the least act up to it, and so they presumably mean something quite different by "religious."

Bonhoeffer was eventually moved to Buchenwald and then Flossenberg as the allies began to bear down on Berlin. The tragedy is that Bonhoeffer was condemned to death by hanging, April 8, 1945, just three weeks before the concentration camp was liberated by American forces. He was hanged the next day after receiving his sentence.

One of my favorite books by Bonhoeffer is "The Cost of Discipleship" where he teaches that it can come at a great cost to truly follow Christ. He eventually lived that as he paid the ultimate price for his belief. I would highly recommend this book. Get to know this great man, he deserves your attention.