In Memory of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Michael
A. Rizzotti
February 4th 2006 marks the 100th year anniversary of the birth of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A remarkable German theologian. Bonhoeffer was involved in
several clandestine missions to help Jewish people escape Nazi Germany. He
also participated in failed plots to overthrow and assassinate the Fuhrer. His
unpatriotic actions led him to the gallows. He was executed on
April 9th
1945. A few weeks before
Hitler committed suicide and the end of the war.
Bonhoeffer
took part in a little known resistance movement against Hitler. He had been a
spy and was determined to publicize to the world the existence of Nazi
concentration camps and Hitler’s treatment of the Jews. Bonhoeffer's had also
worked with contacts in England, particularly Bishop George Bell. He had hoped that
the British government would show support for the resistance of which
he was a part. He also tried to convince his British contacts to participate in a military
coup against Hitler. History reveals that due to their distrust of him and the
Germans, England’s help never materialized.
What
made Bonhoeffer exceptional is that he could have taken a cushy job teaching at
good University or become a minister in an affluent parish. He could have blended
in with the crowd like most of his countrymen and ignore Hitler’s folly. He
could have stayed in the US
after his latest visit instead of returning home. However, he could not leave
his family and friends behind, or abandon his country at a crucial time.
He came
from a good and affluent family. His father was a well respected professor of
psychiatry and neurology. His mother had obtained a university degree. A rare feat for the time. She undertook to educate her
children at home and explaining that: "Germans have their backbones broken
twice in life: first in schools, then in the military".
Bonhoeffer
was torn between his passion for the Word of God and
the love for his country. The
German
Church of the time was split between the emotional grips of
patriotism and the commands of the Gospels. What made Bonhoeffer stand out from
all other theologians of his era was his commitment to Christ. And
to this day he remains an example of what it means to be an authentic
“disciple” of Jesus Christ.
Like
Jesus he stood up for the outcast. He was opposed to anti-Semitism and
expressed his views publicly against the racial policies of the Nazis. He stood
against the predominant views of appeasement by the so-called Christian Church
of his country. The Gestapo eventually caught up with him and forbid him to
teach or preach. Before he finally was imprisoned he spent two years secretly teaching
and supervising his students illegally in small parishes. He was arrested in April 1943. And until
his death he remained a man of faith and stood steadfast against the delusion
of tyranny and misplaced patriotism.
Germany was divided between a predominant
German
Evangelical
Church and a religious right faction called the Deutsche
Christen ─German Christians. The
German
Evangelical
Church had a strong nationalist tradition and had a history
of being subservient to state authority. Whereas, the German
Christians became the more predominant voice of Nazi ideology. They even
advocated the removal of the Old Testament from the Bible. With their help,
Anti-Semitism became widespread and enthusiasm for Nazism took over
Germany.
To this
day many questions remain unanswered. How could a majority of Christians
living in Germany not stand up to Hitler? How could they condone his
racial policies? And how could they overlook the illegal invasion of other
countries, justify hatred and war? The answer might lie in the art of
casuistry!
Casuistry is the theological discourse that
deals in resolving special moral cases
of conscience especially in regards to matters of conflicting duty or
responsibility. Mostly it appears in the form of sophistry: A justification of
an act that
is morally wrong making it appear to be morally right. For instance, the Church was able to
morally justify acts violence during the Inquisition, contradicting the
messages in the Gospels. It did this by diverting the issue away from the killing of
innocent victims by demonizing them. The Nazi did the same thing with the
Jewish people. Making them the victims and scapegoats of unresolved conflicts within their
own German culture.
Bonhoeffer's
preoccupations were confronted by both theological and political issues. The
racism of his country had finally convinced him that the religious traditions
of his time were spiritually bankrupt. Disillusioned about his Christian
contemporaries he described them as living a "religionless Christianity”.
Where moral values were being replaced by cynicism and ideology. He realized
that tribalism and patriotism had overtaken religion and the universal
principles of true spirituality. Living the consequences of a religionless
Christianity first hand from his embattled position, incarceration and execution.
In the face of his moral turmoil, Bonhoeffer’s book
The Cost of Discipleship literally lays
out his Christian position: To stand
up morally against the tyranny of war, racism and hatred. Such a moral stand
however has a cost. And since he was a man of his and God’s Word, he paid the
price with the sacrifice of his life.
Most of
all, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is among a few in history of Christianity who deserves to be called a Christian. To this day I cherish his memory,
his moral example and
character. He will remain an undisputable model of what is to be a "Christian",
especially amidst times of ethical and political morass.
