Bonhoeffer - Christian moral action

Bonhoeffer’s life

• Confessing church

• Finkenwalde

Luther

1. spiritual kingdom of Christ governed by Christ

2. political kingdom of world governed by state

Mark, Jesus

‘Give the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s’

John, Jesus

Jesus doesn’t challenge rule of Pontius Pilate

St Paul, Romans

‘let every person be subject to the governing authorities’ ‘those authorities that exist have been instituted by God’'

healing on the sabbath

Jesus challenging local authorities

Luke

Karl Barth

• humans corrupted by OS, so dangerous to rely on human reason to anything about God/ God’s will

• whatever discovered = putting earthly things on level of God

• have to rely on faith in God/ revelation in Bible

Luke

• ‘Follow me’, ‘leave the dead to bury the dead’

• Mary and Martha

justification of civil disobedience

• ‘making reasonable people face unreasonable situations’

• No rusty swords: ‘only be clear in moment of action’

Matthew

‘You are the salt of the world.. you are the light of the world’

centrality on Jesus

‘Cost of Discipleship’

• ‘disciple dragged out of relative security and safety into life of absolute insecurity’

• ‘besides Jesus, nothing else has any significance’

Religionless Christianity

‘No Rusty Swords’

‘Only Christ, only Scripture and only faith’

Discipleship

‘I am afraid that Christians who stand with only one leg on earth, stand with only one leg in heaven’

costly grace

‘Cost of Discipleship’

• ‘it cost man his life and it is grace because it gives man the only true life.. above all it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son’

• ‘take up their cross and follow me’

role of C in modern world

‘Cost of Discipleship’

‘visible community’

‘Letters and papers from prison’

• ‘surprising and terrible discovery that the will of God does not reveal itself before our eyes as clearly as we hoped’

how to know will of God

‘No Rusty Swords’

‘only be clear in moment of action’

finkenwalde

• Discipline -> action

• Meditation - way of developing discipline and as foundation of prayer

• Bible - reading and discussion to develop understanding 

• Brotherhood

  • Community bound together by love fo C and sustained by HS

• Community of others

  • Community of forgiven not righteous bc no one perfect

  • C died for all humans, not just C

  • Community must be outward looking and engage with world 

CC not successful

• not prepared to voice criticisms of treatment of Jews and collapse of civil rights in germany

• ‘who will speak for those who are voiceless’ Psalms