Christian moral action Flashcards
who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
- born in 1906 in Bresula Germany he lived an idyllic childhood
- but in 1918 his oldest brother was killed fighting in ww1
- his family did not attend church but his mother ensure that the traditions of the Lutheran church were followed
- stated studying theology at 13 and in 1930 he travelled to New York to study with theologians, impressed by the christian teaching on social responsibility
the relationship between the church and the state (context)?
- already been heavily influenced by the reformation eg Luthers conviction of the church and state being one sides of a coin, to disobey the state is to disobey God
- influenced by Augustines idea of the need fro a city of man (this side of heaven) to restrain mans tendency to disorder
➡️ dominent idea that your duty to God and church involved your home/private life whilst your duty to the state was your public duty
❗️ jesus said ‘give to the emperor the things that are the emperors,and to God the things that are Gods’
St Paul wrote ‘let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority expect from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God’
what was the Church and the Jewish question?
paper published by Bonhoeffer in 1933 suggesting 3 questions ;
- the church provides care for the victims of injustice including jews
- protest and question the state rather than be silent
- actively seeking to disrupt the state when it was doing immoral things
what were the issues with the church?
Christianity as split in 1930’s ; some believing that state laws were an expression of God’s laws linked with Nazi ideology other broke away from politics completely and were members of the confessing church, only christians truly confessing their faith
❌Nazi ideology went against NT + OT, ‘do not kill
❗️‘The state of Adolf Hitler appeals to the church, and the church has to hear this call.’ Nazis state propaganda
what did Bonhoeffer believe the church should be?
provide a moral + spiritual community ➡️ Church cannot be the middle class institution it had become but rather needed to be stripped or false pretence or pride at being ‘religious’ instead it must grow and embrace a religionless world and fully engage with it
✅The Church should be accessible to everyone and follow the teachings of Jesus who healed outsiders e.g. Jesus heals a man with leprosy, ‘be clean.’ Luke 5 12:16
what church did Bonhoeffer set up?
Birth of confessing church was reaction against the Nazified faction of the official church, blending christianity with national socialism
❗Aryan paragraph removed all clergy who were not of aryan descent ➡️ Bonhoeffer and Niemoeller organised a group of clergy who disagreed and founded the confessing church + in 1934 the Barmen declaration recording the key doctrines of the church was created
❗️‘Jesus christ … is the one word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.’ 1934 Bath, confessing church
what did Bonhoeffer experience in America make him realise?
Experience in America made Bonhoeffer realise that pacifism was flawed as it let atrocities happen ➡️ in 1933 Bonhoeffer published ‘The church and the Jewish question’ calling for 3 courses of action; providing care for victims of injustice, protesting and questioning the state and active disruption
for Bonhoeffer what is a true leader?
one who keeps his followers focused on God as their ultimate leader (recognizing the risk that humans idolise leaders so ensure they are refocused at every opportunity)
❗️This true leader is Jesus, ‘one act of obedience is worth a hundred sermons.’ ➡️ duty to God is more important than to the state
when is disobedience ok for Bonhoeffer?
when the state is making ‘reasonable people face unreasonable situations.’
❗️For B disobedience was helping Jewish people get passports for the holocaust, being a part of the abwehr and involvement in the plot to kill Hitler, ‘it is better to do something than nothing in the face of evil.’ could be compared to russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine
✅The catechism makes it clear that the state’s authority should only be recognised if it seeking the common good and does nothing immoral , ‘authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good.’
❌Aquinas argues the primary principle of natural law is to live in an ordeal society, we have to establish secondary precepts that demand civil obedience not civil disobedience
Bonhoeffer’s belief on discipleship? (grace)
means we must obey christ, demanding obedience not just allowing God to work in you - Christians who thought that were passive and wait for God to do the work were working with ‘cheap grace’ ‘Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church’ Bonhoeffer
✅Discipleship may involve being willing to give everything up, ‘when he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.’ Mathew 13;46 on discovering the kingdom of heavens + Jonah in the wale
❌Church attendance and Christian faith is declining in some areas; perhaps Christianity does need to move away from its past
what should we follow instead of cheap grace?
should obey christ and suffer with him ➡️ commitment to true grace which is a costly grace (a cost to living a christian life, ‘the hidden treasure in the field.’ )
B asked the question: what happened to mankind when God became man? ➡️ doctrine of incarnation states that Jesus is fully God and fully man (al humans united by christ so we ought to identify with each other)
❗️As jesus had been the ‘man for others’ if the church is the ‘body of christ’ it must be ‘the church for others’
Believing ethics is action and action is liberation , when we face a problem we experience a sense of disunity and conflict
What does Bonhoeffer think of conscience?
Conscience (self knowledge) prompts action ➡️ following your conscience is a moment of liberation from disunity and conflict by following agape love ‘only in Jesus Christ do we know what love is, namely, in his deed for us.’
