Moral Action Flashcards
leadership of state - background
o Nuremberg Laws and Aryan Clauses passed, Confessing Church publically denounce Reich Church, but not government.
o Because…
• Some taken by Hitler’s pro-Xian propaganda
• Romans 13 convinced most of them that they should submit to the government, ‘let every person be subject to the governing authorities (…) for those authorities that exist have been instituted by God’
• Matthew 22:21 - give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.
o Barmen Declaration of 1934, meeting between representatives of all German confessional churches
• ‘If you find that we are speaking contrary to scripture, then do not listen to us! But if you find that we are taking our stand upon scripture, then let no fear or temptations keep you from treading with us the path of faith and obedience to the Word of God’
leadership of state - role of church
o Bonhoeffer says the role of the Church is to serve and not rule. Diakonoi of 1 Cor 12:5 were ministers appointed by God, not the Church, so are appointed to serve others.
o Church should never serve their own interests, anything that distracts people from Gospel is forbidden.
leadership of state - how church should view gov. leaders
o Romans 13:1 makes it clear that all people must be subject to higher powers.
• ‘The world exercises dominion, the Christian serves, and thus he shares the earthly lot of his lord who became a servant’ (Romans)
o Must subordinate themselves to governmental leaders as otherwise you are lapsing into the ways of the world.
• ‘To resist the powers is to resist the ordinance of God’ (Cost of Discipleship)
civil disobedience - general
• Seem to be contradictions in teachings of Bonhoeffer
• Was a pacifist; it seems contradictory to advocate civil disobedience
• Led to his execution at hands of Nazis, did it because he felt it was truly in line with the will of God
• Says in his three responses by the Church that ‘we are not to simply bandage the wounds of the victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself’
o If the state is causing terrible injustice, the role of the Church is to stop this.
• In book ‘Ethics’, he argues that man is not the final arbitrator of good and evil as this role is reserved for God alone.
• When man decides between good and evil, then he will fail due to Original Sin.
• B bold enough to split from the Reich Church and go to the Confessing Church in his early days. As leader of Confessing Church, felt he should join the German resistance to defeat the Nazis.
o ‘There is no standing amid the ruins of one’s native town in the consciousness that at least one has not oneself incurred guilt’
o One is just as guilty of the town’s destruction for doing nothing as for being amongst those who burnt it down.
• If state is making ‘reasonable people face unreasonable situations’, then should be disobeyed
civil disobedience - suffering disobedience
o Tyrannicide can be deemed a Christian duty if it establishes social order.
o However, should not try and use idea of duty to justify anything, could allow evil to prevail.
o Dismissed consequentialist ethics, as you can’t guarantee outcomes.
o No rational justification for CD; can only act in faith and pray.
civil disobedience - bonhoeffer example
o Intrigued by Ghandi, was pacifist.
o Disobedience is always ‘concrete and particular’, not promoting complete disobedience of every government
o Lived life of prayer and seeking God’s will through scripture, felt he had to be obedient to this and be responsible for involvement in Hitler assassination plot.
o Spoke out against Nazi ideas in university where he worked, lost his job.
o Banned from public lectures
o Criticised Confessing Church when it conformed under Hitler’s pressure
o Deemed Hitler the anti-Christ, ‘we must go on with out work and eliminate him’
Should Christians practice civil disobedience? Yes: general
- If government negates is own ethical role and is causing complete injustice for the people.
- If it is the will of God, must follow through even if it leads to his own punishment.
- Exodus 1: Hebrew midwives disobey Pharaoh instructions to kill all male Jewish baby boys.
- Acts 5:29 - ‘we must obey God rather than men’
- If God is a God of justice, would not want people to sit and watch people suffer and instead as the body of Christ, stand up for the oppressed.
Should Christians practice civil disobedience? yes: ghandi and luther king
- Influenced by Ghandi, ‘non-violence means the pitting of one’s whole soul against the will of the tyrant’
- Martin Luther King, ‘the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy’.
Should Christians practice civil disobedience? yes: augustine and CCC
- Augustine teaches, ‘a law which is not just does not seem to me to be a law at all’
- CCC: ‘the citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directing evil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of moral order’.
Should Christians practice civil disobedience? lib theology
- James Cone, ‘the human must rebel against all the principalities and powers which make human existence subhuman’
- Gustavo Gutierrez wrote, ‘present events form part of our own universe and demand of the individual a personal decision, a rejection of every king of complicity’.
Should Christians practice civil disobedience? no: bible
- Romans 13:5, people should obey authorities not just because of God’s punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
- Matthew 23:2-4, Jesus teaches about the Jewish authorities that you ‘must obey and follow everything they do’
- Titus 3:1-2, reminds Titus to submit to rulers and obey them.
Should Christians practice civil disobedience? no: vins and martyr
- Justin Martyr appeals to Matt 22:21, ‘whence to God alone we render worship, but in other things we gladly serve you, acknowledge you as kings and rulers of men’
- Russian pastor Georgi Vins persecuted by USSR authorities for his faith but said despite this Xians must obey all laws laid down by the state even if they are unjust.
God’s will general
- Church has duty to call attention to justice, has role to see difference between good and evil.
- B believed in Fall, have to live by will of God rather than set rules.
- ‘If man asks God humbly, God will give him certain knowledge of his will’
- Told believers uncertain during war to turn to Christ, answers were supposedly obtainable.
- Instructed people to live single-mindedly; following God may lead to you being placed above the law.
- Often quotes Luke 9:57-62, JC says he has no where to lie down and that the man should stop burying his father as the dead should be left to bury the dead, JC does not even stand in way of law.
god’s will - how to discern it
o Each situation we face is different, cannot rely on intuition. Should discern God’s will using ‘heart, intellect, observation and experience’
o We must overcome our fallen nature to be conformed to Christ.
o Claims we will know the will of God ‘in moment of action’. Have to rid ourselves of personal ambition, refused to accept the autonomy school of ethics that applies love, as he believed if love were knowable, then morality would be human and this would reduce God to a human idea.
o Should respond to will of God through prayer, conscience and reflecting on life of Christ and the religious community.
o Will of God may lead us to our own deaths, should never stop looking for will of God.
o It was will of God that led him to give up what he thought was ethical in order to join the resistance in a plot to overthrow Hitler.
is it possible to know God’s will? Yes
• Can know it through prayer, scripture and dedication to Christ.
• Fundamentalists believe you can know God through scripture due to it being WofG, reflecting God’s will in all things.
• Quakers look to conscience to understand what stands with their conscience and inner light in order to understand will of God.
• Bonheoffer’s dramatic change in heart suggests it is clear when you know God’s will.
B speaks about shared experience of Church community in finding God’s will. This common life stops distortion of how people interpret will of God. Similar to Stanley Hauerwas.
