A Spoke in the Wheel: the Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Today would have been Dietrich Bonhoeffer's birthday.  While we can be assured that he would have long slipped the mortal coil of this existence, he was taken much too early, having been killed at the hands of the Nazis in Tegel prison. Bonhoeffer was only 39 when he died and yet remarkably has had a greater impact on many who have lived well past their prime.

At the end of his life, and in the face of his own mortality, Bonhoeffer questioned his existence in a poem entitled, "Who am I?" He writes:

"Who am I? They often tell me

I stepped from my cell's confinement 

Calmly, cheerfully, firmly

Like a squire from his country house

Who am I? They often tell me

I used to speak to my warders
Freely, friendly, and clearly
as though it were mine to command
Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
Equably, smilingly, proudly
Like one accustomed to win 

At the end of this poem (listen to the whole text), Bonhoeffer wonders if he lives up to the expectations others have placed on him.  "Am I really then all that which other men tell of? Or am I only what I know myself to be?"  In the end, he sums up his feelings perfectly:

                          "Whoever I am, thou knowest God, I am thine!" 

That, in a sentence, describes Dietrich Bonhoeffer's lifelong desire. Whatever he did, he wanted to belong completely to his Lord Jesus Christ.  

In his life, he sought complete obedience to the will of God as he knew it.  In his death, he would become the inspiration for Christians around the world to engage with the world with renewed vigor and passion. 

Bonhoeffer lived in a unique period of history in which the world seems to have gone insane.  Dictators had taken up residence in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union.  People were being rounded up and put in camps because of their religion, race, and/or sexual orientation.  Millions were sacrificed to the god of atheism and a majority of people called it progress.  In reality, human beings were simultaneously deifying themselves, and throwing their humanity aside.   Sadly the Christian Church went along with this, and some in the church promoted it. 

Church decorated in Nazi flags

It is easy to be timid and to not stand up for what is right.  It is easy to say nothing and hope that you will be ignored.  It is easy to hold on to what we have and not risk losing it.  Too many people in Germany took the easy route.  The Nazis came and placed more and more demands on the church and took more and more liberty away from it.  The Nazis at first allowed the Church to continue on in its mission, but then put restrictions in place on what it could preach and teach.  Finally, the Nazis came in and told the church exactly what they could teach.  Too many people went along and the voice of the Church was silenced.  There is no sadder sight to see than a Christian pulpit draped with a twisted cross. 

Bonhoeffer was one of the first, if not the first, to stand opposed to what the Nazis were attempting in Germany.  In 1933, he spoke on "The Church and Jewish Question," in which he stated that the Church had a moral imperative to assist the Jewish people. 

[T]here are three possible ways in which the church can act toward the state: the first place, as has been said, it can ask the state whether its actions are legitimate and accordance with its character as state; i.e., it can throw the state back on its responsibility. Second, it can aid the victims of any ordering of society, even if they do not belong to Christian community — "Do good to all people." In both these courses of action, the church serves the free state in its free way, and at times when laws are changed the church may in no way withdraw itself from these two tasks. The third possibility is not just to bandage the victims under the wheel, but to jam a spoke in the wheel itself.

Bonhoeffer later became involved in movements to relocate Jews from Germany.  Ultimately he became involved in the failed Von Stauffenberg plot to kill Hitler.  The SS caught up with Bonhoeffer's secret life and sent him to prison, where he was executed on April 9, 1945.

For such a young man, Bonhoeffer accomplished a great deal.  His writings have paved the way for modern Christian theology, particularly in the areas of ecclesiology, ethics, and discipleship. His books Life Together and Discipleship are among the classics of Christian spirituality. Ethics and his Letters and Papers from Prison have been read by millions around the world and have been translated into a variety of languages.  Bonhoeffer continues to influence theologians today from almost every perspective, including Jurgen Moltmann and Doug Platt.

What is it about this young man that draws so much attention?

Bonhoeffer provides us with an example of what it truly means to follow Christ today.  His legacy is that he pushed...and continues to push the Church out of the cloister and into the public realms. The Church cannot separate itself from the world, but rather must embrace the world as Christ embraced the world and sought to transform it.

Bonhoeffer's credo was that the "church is only the church as it exists for others."  He took this from the very foundation of Christ's mission in the world.  Christ came for the other, the ones that were apart from Him, the ones that hated Him, the ones that sought to put Him to death.  The same is true for the Church.  We exist, not for ourselves and not for our own sake, but for those who are outside the church, for those who hate the Church, for those who would put the Church to death.  It is only as we begin to recognize this fact that we can truly be engaged in any mission worthy of the name Christian.

In order to do this, we must be wiling to follow Christ, wherever Christ would have us go.  These places are often not very comfortable, we must remember, as Bonhoeffer teaches us, "discipleship is not an offer man makes to God." Rather, Christ commands us to follow and the word comes to us.Christianity is about discipleship.  As he writes, "Christianity without discipleship is Christianity without Christ." The Christian life becomes Christo-centric in every aspect of living.

The legacy of Bonhoeffer must be lifted up once again.  The Church must follow Christ and must follow boldly in the face of a society and culture filled with violence and death.  In our world, the Christian message has been marginalized because the Church has been too timid to dare to follow the commands of Christ.

Where is the Christian voice...the voice of Christ as it were...in the public sphere of life? Where is the body of Christ in action?  But not all is lost and we clearly see signs of life.

We see signs of Bonhoeffer's legacy all over the place and we see the work of Christ being accomplished.  It was evident in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s call for a new vision of society beyond race divisions.  It has been active in the work of the International Justice Mission's fight against human trafficking.  It is seen plainly in the work of Shane Claiborne and the Simple Way ministry.

Just like Bonhoeffer, we live in unique times.  The world seems to have gone mad and humans have at the same time deified themselves and cast humanity aside. Just as Bonhoeffer sat in that cell and wondered "who am I?" so we too can ask ourselves the same question.  "Who are we?" "Who am I?" Will I hear the voice of Christ, or will I shrink in fear? Will I live for the other or seek security for myself?  or we will say, with Bonhoeffer:

            "Whoever I am, thou knowest O God, I am thine!"