The Election of the Reich Bishop at the Site of Martin Luther’s Tomb

What a sharp contrast in theologies!

The National Synod, which included all the German provincial churches, met at Wittenberg on 27 September and elected Ludwig Muller Reich Bishop by acclamation. Over Luther’s tomb in the castle church, the German Christian leader (Joachim) Hossenfelder extolled him: “I greet thee, my Reich Bishop!” (Franz) Hildebrand whispered to Bonhoeffer that now Luther “really would turn over in his grave.”

(Ferdinand Schlingensiepen, Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945: Martyr, Thinker, Man of Resistance, 140-141).

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