Christian Moral Action

religionless Christianity

• Bonhoeffer’s idea that Christianity should get rid of old-fashioned idea and separate itself from present ideologies

costly grace

• the idea that the free gift of grace demands a response of true, sacrificial discipleship - total abandonment to Christ and to be Christ-like in your attitude

solidarity

• the idea that Christians must be ‘for others’

overview

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer used his experiences with the rise of Nazism from 1933 to explore how Christian life can be fully expressed

• his Christianity was radical and re-examined the relationship between Church and state; Bonhoeffer did not think that the Church should always see itself as working with the state, as the tradition in Germany was at the time

• influenced by his experiences in the US, he felt that the Church needed to understand itself as separate to countries or races

• as he began to challenge Hitler’s influence, he left behind his pacifist views, realising that Christians could not stand back and let terrible things happen in the world

• he was eventually executed for his role in a resistance attempt to kill Hitler, as well as in his consistent teaching against Nazi ideology

• throughout his life, Bonhoeffer held firm to three key theological principles, which are very much of the same tradition as Barth: 1. the wholly other God is revealed fully in Jesus

• Jesus is also fully human and is ‘for us’

• humans are social beings and the best expression of this is found in the communal life of the Church

• the third point can be expanded to explore Bonhoeffer’s ethics, because it is in community that his ethics take meaning. Bonhoeffer believed that action was at the centre of ethical practice for Christians

• this action comes from a Christian’s awareness of their conscience, which identifies what is right or wrong

• Bonhoeffer would have rejected Fletcher’s approach to love because first, it is through community, not individual decision-making, that Christians ‘do’ ethics, and second, love is understood through an understanding of the ultimate leader, Jesus, who is the revelation of God

duty to God and duty to the state

• German Christianity was split in the 1930s. some Christians, believing that the state’s laws were an expression of God’s laws, linked with the Nazi ideology and became a part of the official German Church: Hitler was ‘inspired’ by the Holy Spirit

• anyone with Jewish ancestry was banned from Church office

• others wished to break away from politics entirely and were members of the Confessing Church, named because they believed that they were the only Christians who were truly ‘confessing’ their faith

• Bonhoeffer’s experiences in the US gave him a global perspective on what Christianity is. he moved to America briefly because he wanted to avoid being made to serve in Hitler’s army, but he realised this was hypocritical: he had been speaking against any Christian who stood by and let atrocities happen

• he also realised pacifism was flawed because it tried to bring about peace in this world, not a divine peace that was part of the Kingdom of God

• Christians need to be prophets, who speak into society when misuse of power is going on, and Bonhoeffer chose to be at the centre of that, not outside it

duty to God and duty to the state

• this does not mean that Bonhoeffer thought that Christians must always ignore the rule of the state, but that in extreme circumstance, doing nothing is not acceptable

• the state will never be able to reflect God’s wishes fully as it is run by fallen human beings

• the question a Christian must ask is whether it is God’s will currently to obey the state

• indeed, all ethics must be about discovering the will of God:

  • it is only in the moment of action that one can work out the will of God

  • Christians must give in to what they think is right to try understand God’s will

  • the Gospels show that the proper Christian response to Jesus is action, not beliefs

  • Christian discipleship is about deciding which leader you are going to follow

  • following God’s leadership above that of the state is therefore a radical approach to ethics

civil disobedience

• Bonhoeffer clearly sees duty to God as coming above duty to the state

• standing by and doing nothing is not an option, even if civil disobedience has to be chosen. it was for this reason that Bonhoeffer joined the Resistance, spoke against Hitler in public and joined the plot to assassinate Hitler

• Bonhoeffer felt that this could be justified because a Christian’s duty is not because of the state but it is towards the state

• Jesus, too, seemed to ignore the possible consequences in his relationship with the state

Church as community and source of spiritual discipline

the role of a Christian community is to give its members what they need to live good lives. Bonhoeffer thought that the Church needed to understand that the world is religionless and work within that context

religionless Christianity is understood as:

• being in a world that has moved beyond the superstitions that religion brings with it and is moving towards rationalism

• needing to react to what society has replaced these superstitions with, such as Nazi ideologies

• having to life itself beyond both its own past and current challenges

• needing to get rid of ‘rusty swords’ - Bonhoeffer’s idea that ethics needs to be reinterpreted and move forward

Bonhoeffer’s role in the Confessing Church

• the Confessing Church met together in 1934 at Barmen, to produce the Barmen Declaration, written by Barth

• in particular, the Confessing Church rejected the move by the German hierarchy to ban anyone not of Aryan descent from leadership within the Church

• the core beliefs of the Barmen Declaration include:

  • Jesus is the only true leader and the only way to God

  • Christians must not follow any teaching that does not come from the revelation of Jesus

  • other ideologies do not have authority over a person’s life

• while the Barmen Declaration very firmly expressed its core beliefs, Bonhoeffer felt that it was not explicit enough in its idea of Church being for all people, not just the people of a nation

• its focus on the beliefs, rather than action, was a weakness for Bonhoeffer, who by the end of his life thought that it had not done enough to promote disobedience to the state in a religionless world

• he was perhaps particularly stung by the fact that the Confessing Church did not take a strong stand against the directive that all Church leaders should take the oath of obedience to Hitler

Bonhoeffer’s religious community at Finkenwalde

• in 1935 Bonhoeffer, on returning from America, was asked to look after a seminary (a place where Church leaders are trained) which soon moved to Finkenwalde

• the seminary was illegal and secret because the state seminaries were only allowing Aryan people to train in their institutions

• the seminary was closed in 1937 by the Gestapo because it went against the state

• the seminary allowed Bonhoeffer to reflect on what it meant to be a Christian community: for him, this was where spiritual discipline comes from, spiritual discipline was, for Bonhoeffer:

  • prayer-centred, including mediation

  • bible-based, with lots of Bible study and discussion about scripture

  • simple, that is, the body as well as the soul

  • communal, based on the idea of mutual support and searching for the guidance of the Holy Spirit

  • action-based, that is, the Church must look out towards the world and speak into the world

the cost of discipleship - grace

• Bonhoeffer rejects any understanding of grace as being easy to obtain. he calls this cheap grace

• it is wrong to focus on the idea that grace is freely given and won in advance by Jesus because it suggests that whatever you do in life you will benefit fully from it

• for Bonhoeffer, grace should be obtained by the Christian engaging with the suffering of Jesus because without doing this, the Christian is rejecting Jesus in some way

• the grace that Bonhoeffer advocates is costly grace

  • the Christian must fully accept the leadership of Jesus, including his teachings

  • if Christians truly believed Jesus’ words they would do anything to achieve the Kingdom of God

  • costly grace means obeying God totally

sacrifice and suffering

• suffering was central to Jesus’ life and it is through Jesus’ suffering that Christians can fully understand God’s revelation in him and obtain grace

• of course, for Bonhoeffer, this was expressed in his experiences against Nazism, in his imprisonment and eventual execution

• Bonhoeffer did not necessarily mean that a Christian’s sufferings should be as extreme as Jesus’ or even his own

• however, his point was that a life of sacrifice is distinctive - the Christian must be different to the world around them

• on the flip side, the Christian who has fully ‘bought in’ to costly grace will be willing to sacrifice much

• Bonhoeffer’s work at Finkenwalde also emphasises the true spiritual discipline is a sacrifice in itself

• spiritual discipline will help the Christian to overcome the temptations of this world and to suffer in the same spirit of acceptance in which Jesus did

solidarity

• solidarity is the word used to express Bonhoeffer’s view that the Church must be ‘for others’

• his understanding of solidarity is shown in the way that he chose to return to Germany to be alongside other people and to work with them

• solidarity must be expressed to all people - the oppressed, those of other nations and beliefs, as well as each other

• Christians should do this by speaking out and questioning injustice when they perceive it, by finding the will of God and then following through with action

• it was Bonhoeffer’s solidarity with the Jews that led to his arrest

• for Bonhoeffer, solidarity is understood through the revelation of God in Jesus Christ

• understanding Jesus’ interaction with political authorities, injustice in his time - as well as Jesus’ example of taking action first, often before he discussed the issues - shows how Jesus was ‘for others’

can we always know God’s will?

• how can fallen human beings know God’s will? Bonhoeffer, like Barth, believed that all we can know of God comes through God’s deliberate decision to reveal himself. in the moment of action, Bonhoeffer felt that we should act in accordance with God’s will so the Christian who practices spiritual discipline is likely to be able to identify God’s revelation more clearly through discussion and prayer

• it could be said that to follow Bonhoeffer’s approach implies that Bonhoeffer himself reveals God’s will, although his interpretation of action might differ from somebody else’s. it could also lead to Christians over-reacting to situations where calm negotiation might have more impact than direct action. Bonhoeffer’s views could be said to be coloured by his extreme context (the Nazi regime)

• however, community living might be the antidote to this potential danger. in a community, it is possible to discern together and mistakes are less likely to happen. yet, nevertheless, in determining God’s will, we seem to be suggesting more use of reason than revealed theology might life. reason is what lead to the Nazi ideology

• one thing that Bonhoeffer clearly advocated was the role of the Christian as the prophet. a prophet’s job is to speak the word of God and the prophets of the OT did so with real confidence. Bonhoeffer’s emphasis on simplicity and so Jesus might be said to show that with this discipline a Christian can indeed be confident that they can discern the will of God

Bonhoeffer places too much emphasis on suffering

• Bonhoeffer lived in extreme circumstances and so, while it was appropriate to talk of suffering alongside Jesus in some way in the context of fighting the Nazis and possibly dying, this is not relevant outside the situation

• most Christians need to live their lives in ‘everyday’ circumstances and suffering should not be part of this approach

• it is unhealthy to ‘seek out’ situations that might lead to suffering

• Bonhoeffer’s emphasis on the suffering (and death) of Jesus might leave no room to understand the resurrection as a place where suffering is no more

• the NT is full of references to God’s grace being freely given, suggesting that the idea of costly grace requiring something from humans is not appropriate

Bonhoeffer does not place too much emphasis on suffering

• suffering is a part of life for anyone who experiences injustice and for everyone at some level at some point in their lives

• for Bonhoeffer, suffering goes alongside solidarity and so the emphasis is on the whole picture of his thought, not just suffering

• Jesus told people to take up their own crosses and follow him, so Jesus himself encouraged his followers to embrace their suffering

• Bonhoeffer’s thought is more than just about suffering - he is interested in the Christian engaging with Jesus Christ on all levels because Jesus is the total revelation of God

• if you take your eye off the idea of suffering you could end up being the person who does not act - which is the starting point for Bonhoeffer’s thought

Bonhoeffer’s relevance today - civil disobedience

• Jesus and Paul both thought that Christians must exist within society. Paul said that if someone rebels against the state they are rebelling against God (Romans). Jesus said that we give to Caesar (the state) what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God

• both these passages seem to suggest that Christians should not act against the state and yet Jesus does that himself when he comes into conflict with the authorities around him

• Jesus identified situations that he needed to be a prophet within, such as in the interpretation of the law or the treatment of outcasts, and Bonhoeffer certainly did the same in his very different context

• other arguments could include:

  • Jesus approached things from within the state; Bonhoeffer separated himself from the state. perhaps Jesus’ example is the one Christians should follow

  • civil disobedience lowers the Christian to the level of terrorist

  • Bonhoeffer was working in an extreme situation

  • Christians should never begin with the assumption that they will disobey

• however, if Christians truly are going to build the Kingdom of God on earth, they will need to do so with some assertiveness

• whether or not Bonhoeffer’s view of religionless society are accepted, Christians certainly believe in a truth that must be communicated to others and that truth includes a way of life that counters injustice

• other arguments in favour of civil disobedience might be:

  • action is the only way that essential Christian truths can be heard

  • it accepts God as the ultimate authority, even though democracy is important

  • if costly grace is accepted as an approach, Christians do need to act

Bonhoeffer in the 21st century

• Bonhoeffer’s call to reject cheap grace and to embrace spiritual discipline could be valuable to people in today’s society who could be said to live superficial and materialistic lives

• for Christians, the idea of refocusing obedience onto the person of Jesus Christ and the will of God could be attractive

• community life and solidarity could be attractive as people seem to become more isolated

• inequality in the world is a reality that needs to be addressed

• national boundaries and cultural boundaries are very different today; the Church should place itself beyond these

• Church attendance and Christian faith is declining in some areas; perhaps Christianity does need to move away from its past

• for Christians seeking to use the teachings of Bonhoeffer, it is important to consider the extent to which he was writing within an extreme time. if he was, can any of his messages appropriately transfer to a modern context? should Christian ethics use the vocabulary of war and violence as much as Bonhoeffer could be said to have done?

• alternatively, it could be argued that Bonhoeffer’s context forced a radical rethink of Christianity that is still relevant, even though the specific situation has passed