Christian Moral Action Flashcards
What was the dominant view of Church and State in Germany in the 1930s?
German theology had been very influenced by the Reformation.
One aspect of this was Luther’s conviction that Church and state should be seen as two sides of the same coin - therefore to disobey the state would be seen to disobey God.
In turn this view was influenced by Augustine’s idea of the need for a City of Man (this side of heaven) to restrain man’s tendency to disorder.
This led to a dominant idea that your duty to God and Church involved your home or private life, whilst your duty to the state was your public duty.
What Biblical quotes could support the idea that Christians should conform to the demands of the state?
Jesus said, ‘Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s’
St Paul wrote, ‘Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is not authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.’
What are the key ideas of Bonhoeffer’s 1933 paper, ‘The Church and the Jewish Question’?
The Church provides care for victims of injustice including Jews
Protest and question the state rather than being silent
Actively seeking to disrupt the state when it was doing immoral things.
What quote supports the idea of Christians taking action when the state harms others?
We are not to simply bandage the would of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.
What did Bonhoeffer teach about true leadership?
For Bonhoeffer a true Christian leader is one who keeps his followers focused on God as their ultimate leader
They recognise the risk that humans have a tendency to idolise human leaders, the true leader ensures that they are refocused at every opportunity. This can be done by living a good Christian lifestyle and remembering that you in turn are a fellow follower of Jesus.
True leaders should live closely to their people, rather than trying to be superior in any way to them.
The true leader understands that their authority and accountability comes from God.
What did Bonhoeffer teach about obedience to God?
Bonhoeffer believed that to be a Christian is to submit to Jesus’ leadership. ‘One act of obedience is worth a hundred sermons’.
Therefore duty to God is more important than duty to the state.
“You can only know what obedience is by obeying. It is no use asking questions; for it is only through obedience that you come to learn the truth”
What did Bonhoeffer teach about obedience to the state?
Therefore duty to God is more important than duty to the state.
In many situations a Christian should follow the reasonable demands of the state.
However there are others where to follow one’s duty to God and the state, disobedience may be necessary
How did Bonhoeffer disobey the State?
Bonhoeffer spoke against Nazism in his university position.
He spoke openly about his prayers for the defeat of his own country.
He proclaimed Hitler as an ‘anti-Christ’ and called for his elimination.
He worked as a double agent with the resistance and the allies, for example in helping smuggle Jews into Switzerland.
What did Bonhoeffer believe about the role of the Church?
For Bonhoeffer, the Church is tasked with providing a moral and spiritual community which equips each person within the tools and attitudes to live morally in the world.
For this to happen, Bonhoeffer argued that a Christian community or Church cannot the middle-class institution it had become over centuries. Instead it should be stripped of false pretense or pride at being ‘religious’.
Instead the Church must grow up and embrace an increasingly religionless world and fully engage with it. In doing so it can become a ‘visible community’ a sign of hope for all people.
Following the example of Jesus, ‘the man for others’, the Church should be a ‘Church for others’
How did the Confessing Church emerge?
The birth of the Confessing Church was reaction against the Nazified faction of the ‘official Church’ who were blending Christianity with National Socialism.
A particularly controversy surrounded the ‘Aryan Paragraph’ removing all clergy who were not of Aryan descent.
Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoeller organised a group of clergy who disagreed with this and founded the Confessing Church.
In 1934, the Confessing Church held a meeting at Barmen and from this meeting Karl Barth produced the foundations of the Barmen declaration.
How did a seminary at Finkenwalde emerge in 1935?
After his return from the USA in 1935, Bonhoeffer was responsible for setting up a community at Finkenwalde for the training of ministers or pastors for the Confessing Church.
Previously, training of ministers had taken place in an academic, university environment.
This was necessary as since the Nazis took control of the German Church and appointed a ‘Reich Bishop’.
In August 1937, the Nazi regime announced the Himmler Decree which declared the training of Confessing Church ministers illegal. In September 1937, Finkenwalde was closed down by the Gestapo
What did Bonhoeffer believe about a ‘world come of age’?
Bonhoeffer described western culture as a ‘world come of age’, he saw this as a positive as it involved embracing a rational view of the world and discarding superstitious practice of religion.
However he also recognised the potential dangers this brought, he called this ‘the Western void’ - that a moral and spiritual vacuum which was open to all kinds of dangerous beliefs seeking to fill the gap which Christianity used to occupy.
Some of the beliefs that replace Christianity might on the surface to be harmless but they could in turn become a ‘new religion’ of their own - the Nazi movement was one example of this.
What did Bonhoeffer mean by a ‘religionless Christianity’?
By religionless Christianity, Bonhoeffer was referring to a Christianity without the baggage of the past and contamination by the ideological beliefs of the present.
A phrase that Bonhoeffer used to illustrate this was ‘no rusty swords’.
By rusty swords are the outworn ethical attitudes and religious practices of the past which no longer have use today.
The challenge for Christians is to rethink the present situation without constraint of the beliefs of the past.
How can ‘religionless Christianity’ work in practice?
Removal of man-made ritual and symbolism from the Church
A focus on Jesus as ‘the man for others’
Engagement in society through a ‘holy worldliness’
Acting in public service and love to others
Seeing God as present in the here and now rather than distant
Accepting that people don’t see themselves as in need of saving
How does Bonhoeffer present the role of the disciple?
Bonhoeffer believed that true Christian discipleship means that we must obey Christ. Discipleship demands obedience, not just allowing God to work in you.
He thought that Christians who thought that they could be passive and wait for God to work were working with what he called ‘cheap grace’.
Instead, Bonhoeffer emphasised parts of the Bible where the Christian has to suffer with Christ. Such Christians still believe in God’s gift of salvation, but they obey Christ and suffer with him. Such Christians are committed to true grace which is a costly grace.
Such a view of grace demands sacrifice and suffering. Sometimes the Christian must be prepared to sacrifice his or her own innocence and take on guilt for the sake of others.
