Dietrich
Bonhoeffer: A brief profile
Dietrich
Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau, Germany, on February
4, 1906, along with a twin sister. He was born into
a cultured, intellectual, upper-middle-class family.
At age 16, Bonhoeffer entered the ministry of the
church, and in the fall of 1923, entered the famous
Tubingen University to study theology.
Bonhoeffer began his teaching career in 1931 in systematic
theology at the University of Berlin. In addition
to his teaching duties, Dietrich accepted responsibility
as a chaplain to students at one of Berlin's technical
colleges, leader of a confirmation class of young
workers in a slum area, and Secretary of the Youth
Commission of the World Alliance for International
Friendship.
The rise of Hitler to power marked the beginnings
and struggles of the German Evangelical Church. This
also marked an important turning point in the life
of Dietrich Bonhoeffer with the birth of the Confessing
Church. The church was characterized by a strong opposition
to the anti-Semitism of the Nazi regime and the need
to establish a clear line of demarcation between the
interests of the church and those of the state.
When it became clear that the Hitler regime had become
synonymous with evil, Bonhoeffer joined the resistance
against Hitler. This was a dangerous commitment, but
Bonhoeffer understood well what his call to Christian
discipleship entailed. His classic book, The Cost
of Discipleship speaks eloquently to this. Bonhoeffer
refused to genuflect at the altar of Nazi demagoguery
as many of his compatriots had done. His joining the
resistance movement against Hitler was not a function
of any political ambition which some commentators
have suggested Bonhoeffer harbored. It might have
been a response to his sense of nationalism or patriotism.
Whatever one's interpretation might be, one can be
certain that Bonhoeffer's response was it was an outgrowth
of his theological convictions and the imperatives
forced upon him by his understanding of his call to
Christian discipleship and radical obedience.
In April, 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested and
imprisoned at Tegel. Near Berlin. He was later moved
to the notorious Gestapo prison in Prinz Albrecht
Strasse. In February, 1945, he was transferred to
the concentration camp at Buchenwald and finally was
executed at Flossenburg on the express orders of Hitler
on April 9, 1945. This was just a few days before
the camp was liberated by the American troops.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer died at age thirty-nine, but he
left a legacy of thought and action which makes his
life still relevant, perhaps even moreso, to the church
today. His critical and prophetic insights into the
theology of the church in the twentieth-century are
even now more relevant to the church in the twenty-first
century, a church that is experiencing all the symptoms
of atrophy and decline. Bonhoeffer remains relevant
and is still sought after, because his religious thoughts
and the life he lived which was informed by those
convictions, remain vibrant and refreshingly prophetic.
Bonhoeffer's life was lived in full commitment to
the prophetic credo which he himself coined, namely:
"When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and
die." This was the text of his life; all else
is commentary.
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