Is Dietrich Bonhoeffer Relevant for Twenty-First Century Preachers?

Recently, I chatted with two men at Panera Bread in Omaha, Nebraska. They both saw my backpack and small luggage bag filled with Bonhoeffer books. One man made the comment that I must be moving. I told them that they were full of books for my thesis-project. One asked what my thesis was about, and I answered, “The impact of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on twenty-first century preaching.” By their blank stares, I realized that both men probably did not know who Dietrich Bonhoeffer was, so for the next minutes, I explained who he was.

Such reactions may not be that uncommon in today’s world. A survey indicated that one in four Britons believed that former Prime Minister, Winston Churchill never existed.[1] The London Daily Mail reported on February 4, 2008 that “Churchill is compared to Florence Nightingale and Sir Walter Raleigh, seen by many respondents as a mythical person.”[2]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer may not be classified a myth, yet there are many within the church who either know very little about him or they are unaware of his contributions to the evangelical church since his execution in 1945.

The other reaction is that Bonhoeffer is often misunderstood. On February 3, 2006, Dr. Uwe Siemon-Netto addressed the audience at Centennial Celebration of the birth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He expressed his dismay that Bonhoeffer had been so misunderstood:

I stand before you this morning with a belly full of healthy anger-anger over the weirdoes who have hijacked our man Bonhoeffer. Because of Bonhoeffer’s jailhouse musings about “religionless Christianity,” they have turned Bonhoeffer, a confessional Lutheran, into just about everything he was not-a theological liberal, a deconstructionist, a radical, a leftist. They portrayed him as the apostle of Christian atheism; as the father of the “God is dead” movement; as a revolutionary. Never mind that to him the term “religion”-in contrast to faith-meant of self-actualization and self-justification. Never mind that “whatever he meant by ‘religionless Christianity,’ he certainly did not think it eclipsed the need for prayer, worship and sacrament,” as Stephen R. Haynes writes in his recent book The Bonhoeffer Phenomenon.[3]

This blog is created for the purpose of describing the impact that Bonhoeffer can have on twenty-first century pastors and preachers. Over the next few days, I will share more on who Dietrich Bonhoeffer is. Plus, I will post the six areas where Bonhoeffer can make an impact on us.

Please contact me if you have any suggestions or questions or comments. You can post a reply to this post or e-mail me at bryan@harveyoaksbaptist.org.

Bryan

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[1] http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,328088,00.html

[2] Ibid.

[3]http://www.ctsfw.edu/events/bonhoeffer/BonhoefferEssays.pdf