Christian Moral Actions Flashcards
When was Dietrich Bonhoeffer born?
1906
What type of Christianity did he practice?
Lutherism
What is Lutherism?
Criticised the church if it diverged from the bible
What did he believed should be separated?
The church and the state
What time did Bonhoeffer live in?
WW2
Germany under Hitler’s control
What did some Christian’s do?
Join the Nazi party
What commandment of Jesus’ did this go against?
Love thy neighbour
What were Christian’s separating themselves from?
The Jewish people
What did they want to discard because it was from Jewish origin?
The Old Testament
What has been a big challenge to authority of the state?
Christianity
When was there a split between the German Protestant Churches?
1934
What were the two Protestant branches?
Christian Evangelical Church (created by Hitler)
Confessing Church
Who created the Confessing Church?
Bonhoeffer
Why did people stay in the German Evangelical Church?
They believed that the state’s laws were an expression of God’s laws
Why was it called the confessing church?
They believed that they were the only Christian’s ‘confessing’ their faith
What did some German Christians wear to show support for Nazis National socialism?
Brown uniforms
What did the German Evangelical church do?
Removed all non-Aryan clergy
Tried to remove the Old Testament
Who was seen as the leader of Christianity alongside Jesus?
Hitler
What was the role of a Christian community?
To give its members what they need to live good lives
What is religionless Christianity?
Bonhoeffer’s idea that we should get rid of old-fashioned ideas and separate itself from present ideologies
What did the Confessing church gather to produce in 1934?
The Barmen Declaration
Who wrote the Barmen Declaration?
Karl Barth
What were the core beliefs of the Barmen Declaration?
Jesus is the only true leader and only way to God
Christian’s 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
What did Bonhoeffer later see as a weakness to the Declaration?
It’s focus on beliefs rather than action
What was a major influence on how Bonhoeffer saw religion?
When he studied and experienced Christian culture in America
What did Bonhoeffer place a huge emphasis on?
Discipleship
What is discipleship?
Showing exclusive obedience to the leadership of God and burning all other ties
What is the metaphor that Jesus used on the Sermon on the mount?
That followers must be salt and light
What does salt and light mean?
Just as salt adds flavour to food Christian’s must act like moral people
Being the light held high lights up the whole room
What was the ‘visible community’?
The followers when their discipleship is visible in action
What ideas did the confessing church reject?
The Nazi ideology of Aryan supremacy
The anti-Jewish laws
The identification of Hitler as a figure who fulfilled the Christian vision
What was the place called that Bonhoeffer was asked to look after a seminary?
Finkenwalde
W hat is a seminary?
A place where Church leaders are trained
Why was the seminary illegal and secret?
State seminaries were only allowing Aryan people to train in their institutions
When was the seminary closed?
1937
Who closed it?
The Gestapo
What did he think came from a Christian community?
Spiritual discipline
What was spiritual discipline for Bonhoeffer?
Prayer centred
Bible-based
Simple
Focused on the whole person
Communal
Action based
Why was Bonhoeffer unhappy with the confessing church
They were not prepared to voice criticism against the treatment of the Jewish people and the collapse of civil rights in Germany
What is civil disobedience?
When a group fails to comply with certain laws in peaceful protest
What actions did Bonhoeffer do in civil disobedience?
Spoke against Hitler in public
Joined a plot to assassinate him
Rejected the idea of two separate areas of life: private + public
What happened to him from these actions?
He was sacked from the university he spoke at
Banned from attending public lectures
What were the two types of Grace called?
Costly
Cheap
