Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 - 1945) On Suffering
Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, preacher, radio broadcaster, and prolific writer in the 1930s and early-1940s, during the rise, rule, and downfall of Adolph Hitler. He was involved in plots planned by members of the the German Military Intelligence Office to assassinate Adolf Hitler. As a result, he was arrested in March 1943 and imprisoned. On the morning of April 9, 1945, he was led out of his cell, and was observed by the prison doctor, who said: "Through the half-open door I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer still in his prison clothes, kneeling in fervent prayer to the Lord his God. The devotion and evident conviction that I saw in the prayer of this intensely captivating man moved me to the depths." As he calmly walked to his death, he could hear the American artillery, the liberators who would arrive just 11 days later and end World War II. The prisoners were ordered to strip. The 39 year-old German Lutheran pastor was led naked to the gallows at Flossenbürg concentration camp in Bavaria. Naked, under the scaffold, Bonhoeffer knelt for one last time to pray - - - five minutes later, he was dead.
Bohoeffer was martyred for his faith in Jesus Christ. He penned, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." Although only 39 when executed, Bonhoeffer left a rich legacy of books, and in them, certainly, a controversial theology. Phrases like "cheap grace", "costly grace", and "religionless Christianity" are common coin, because they come from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s two best-known books, The Cost of Discipleshipand Letters and Papers from Prison. The Cost of Discipleshipwas written in 1939 and is an interpretation of The Sermon on the Mount, calling for radical living, if the Christian is to be an authentic disciple of Christ. Letters and Papers from Prisonwas a manuscript smuggled from jail and published. These "Letters" contain Bonhoeffer's consideration that organized religion and "securalization" had undermined genuine faith in Believers.
John D. Godsey : Bonhoeffer's Theology of Suffering
Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Suffering by John D. Godsey
"Our God is a suffering God." So preached Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1934.
"(We are) summoned to share in God's suffering at the hands of a godless world." So wrote Bonhoeffer from Berlin's Tegel Prison in 1944.
These quotations expose the heart of his theology and ethics. When defining God, Bonhoeffer liked to quote Luther, who would point to Jesus and declare: "This man is God for me."
Bonhoeffer's faith was as simple and as astonishing as this affirmation: That the sole God of the universe, the Holy One of Israel, became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, who was born in a manger, lived God's righteous love as servant of all, died on a cross with forgiveness on his lips, and rose to inaugurate a new creation. Ecce homo! Behold the human being who as the incarnate, crucified and risen One reveals God's power in weakness and God's lordship in servanthood!
For Bonhoeffer, this is the liberating gospel of grace and the magnetic summons to discipleship. Despite the admittedly situational and often fragmented writings of this German Lutheran theologian, who began theological studies in 1923 and was hanged by the Nazis in 1945 for his involvement in the conspiracy against Hitler, a reader of Bonhoeffer will find an amazing coherence in his thought. To use his own musical metaphor, it is "polyphonous."
Like a Bach fugue, there is a bass theme running throughout that holds together the great variety of contrapuntal themes. That bass theme can be summed up in the word "suffering": God's suffering for us in Christ and with us in all worldly suffering. Most of Bonhoeffer's contrapuntal themes involved the suffering of Christians with God and for others in the midst of earthly life.
Important to note from the outset is Bonhoeffer's distinction between "general suffering" and "Christian suffering." The former casts a foreboding shadow over all earthly life. Just as no one exits this world alive, so no one escapes suffering in some degree, although one of its enigmatic features is its unequal distribution. General suffering encompasses all the misery, illness, pain and death which is inexplicably part of the human condition, and Bonhoeffer attributed it not to the will of God but to the sin and evil resulting from the fall. Christian suffering, by contrast, is a specific kind of suffering which, for Bonhoeffer has three main features: first, it is voluntary; second, it is bearing the burdens of others; and, third, it is done for the sake of Christ. This is suffering that one freely and gladly assumes in the loving of one's neighbor or neighborhood. As such, it is nothing other than answering the demands of Christian discipleship. According to Bonhoeffer, this suffering entails the active following of Jesus into a hurting and often hostile world, doing the "extraordinary" not from some heroic impulse but from the prompting of the Spirit of Christ."
Bonhoeffer's favorite passage of Scripture for summing up his concern was Paul's admonition, "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2). God, he emphasized, is a God who bears: bears our sin, bears our pain, bears our anguish. The deep meaning of the cross of Christ is that there is no suffering on earth that is not borne by God. The church, for Bonhoeffer, is the continuing presence of Christ in history, a body of persons called to share in the messianic suffering of God by being there for others, carrying their burdens and thus fulfilling the duty laid on them by Christ himself. In doing so they become "like Christ," conforming their lives to the way of self-giving love. Bonhoeffer boldly puts it this way: through the life of responsible discipleship Christ actually takes form in us, lives his ongoing life in us. The Church, then, is not a group of people who are merely worshipers of Christ; the church is Christ himself taking form in a community that lives for others; caring for neighbors, both individually and corporately, both near and far.
Must the Christian go around looking for a cross to bear, seeking to suffer? No, insisted Bonhoeffer. Opportunities for bearing crosses will occur along life's way and all that is required is the willingness to act when the time comes. The needs of the neighbor, especially those of the weak and downtrodden, the victimized and the persecuted, the ill and the lonely, will become abundantly evident. What about non-Christians, or at least those who would not call themselves "Christians," who would nevertheless work for peace and justice and reconciliation? They should be embraced with gratitude, according to Bonhoeffer. He cited the Beatitude in which Jesus grants his blessing to anyone who suffers for a just cause. Indeed, Bonhoeffer pointed out that any goodness or humanness in this world can be claimed for the domain of Christ, who is Lord of all but whose rulership consists in service. Few things disturbed Bonhoeffer more than a type of religiosity that tries to circumscribe the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Bonhoeffer's sensitivity to suffering, both divine and human stemmed from two main sources. The first was his life of discipleship, which included daily meditation on scripture and prayer. His favorite biblical book was the Psalms, which is filled with the cries of the oppressed and the succor of God. The second was the experiences in his life that confronted him with the reality of suffering: the trauma of losing an older brother in World War I; his weekly involvement in a Harlem church where he learned of the devastating effect of racism and economic deprivation on African-Americans while he was studying at Union Seminary in New York City during the depression year 1930-31; his struggle against the Nazi government's intrusion into the affairs of the German Church and particularly the Nazis' persecution of the Jews; and finally, his participation in the conspiracy to overthrow Hitler, which led to his imprisonment and death. These experiences provided him with what he called "the view from below," that is, the perspective of those who suffer from maltreatment, powerlessness and oppression.
Bonhoeffer firmly believed that suffering with God and for others eventuates in God's blessing. The ultimate blessing is martyrdom, which God grants only to a few. Bonhoeffer would never call himself a martyr, but as a result of his costly witness, may not later generations do so? After all, he advocated judging people less in the light of what they do or don't do and more in the light of what they suffer. In the words of K. F. Harttmann's poem, which Bonhoeffer cited in his Ethics: It is in suffering that (God) imprints upon our minds and hearts (God's) own all-valid image."
After Bonhoeffer learned that the plot against Hitler on July 20, 1944, had failed, he wrote a poem in his prison cell entitled, "Stages on the Road to Freedom." After "discipline" and "action," the third stage is "suffering."
It is through suffering, he wrote, that Christians learn to turn the final outcome of their actions over to God, who alone can perfect them in glory. And it is in dying that they find true freedom as they meet God face to face.
Editorial Notes Stauros (http://www.stauros.org ) is grateful to the editorial staff of The Living Pulpit for permitting us to reprint John D. Godsey's commentary on Bonhoeffer's theology of suffering. The Living Pulpit is published quarterly for members of The Living Pulpit, Inc., 5000 Independence Avenue, Bronx, NY 10471, 914/757-5109. Membership dues: $39 per year. 1995 by Stauros, U.S.A., 5401 South Cornell, Chicago, IL 60615-5698
Todd Kappelman: On Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship"
The Cost of Discipleship
Bonhoeffer's most famous work is The Cost of Discipleship, first published in 1939.
This book is a rigorous exposition and interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, and Matthew 9:35-10:42.
Bonhoeffer's major concern is cheap grace. This is grace that has become so watered down that it no longer resembles the grace of the New Testament, the costly grace of the Gospels. By the phrase cheap grace, Bonhoeffer means the grace which has brought chaos and destruction; it is the intellectual assent to a doctrine without a real transformation in the sinner's life. It is the justification of the sinner without the works that should accompany the new birth. Bonhoeffer says of cheap grace:
[It] is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.{1}
Real grace, in Bonhoeffer's estimation, is a grace that will cost a man his life. It is the grace made dear by the life of Christ that was sacrificed to purchase man's redemption. Cheap grace arose out of man's desire to be saved, but to do so without becoming a disciple. The doctrinal system of the church with its lists of behavioral codes becomes a substitute for the Living Christ, and this cheapens the meaning of discipleship. The true believer must resist cheap grace and enter the life of active discipleship. Faith can no longer mean sitting still and waiting; the Christian must rise and follow Christ.{2}
It is here that Bonhoeffer makes one of his most enduring claims on the life of the true Christian. He writes that "only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes."{3}
Men have become soft and complacent in cheap grace and are thus cut off from the discovery of the more costly grace of self-sacrifice and personal debasement. Bonhoeffer believed that the teaching of cheap grace was the ruin of more Christians than any commandment of works.{4}
Discipleship, for Bonhoeffer, means strict adherence to Christ and His commandments. It is also a strict adherence to Christ as the object of our faith. Bonhoeffer discusses this single-minded obedience in chapter three of The Cost of Discipleship. In this chapter, the call of Levi and Peter are used to illustrate the believer's proper response to the call of Christ and the Gospel.{5}
The only requirement these men understood was that in each case the call was to rely on Christ's word, and cling to it as offering greater security than all the securities in the world.{6}
In the nineteenth chapter of Matthew's Gospel we have the story of the rich young man who is inquiring about salvation and is told by Christ that he must sell all of his possessions, take up his cross, and follow. Bonhoeffer emphasizes the bewilderment of the disciples who ask the question, "Who then can be saved?"{7}
The answer they are given is that it is extremely hard to be saved, but with God all things are possible.
Bonhoeffer and the Sermon on the Mount
The exposition of the Sermon on the Mount is another important element of The Cost of Discipleship. In it, Bonhoeffer places special emphasis on the beatitudes for understanding the incarnate and crucified Christ. It is here that the disciples are called "blessed" for an extraordinary list of qualities.
The poor in spirit have accepted the loss of all things, most importantly the loss of self, so that they may follow Christ.
Those who mourn are the people who do without the peace and prosperity of this world.{8} Mourning is the conscious rejection of rejoicing in what the world rejoices in, and finding one's happiness and fulfillment only in the person of Christ.
The meek, says Bonhoeffer, are those who do not speak up for their own rights. They continually subordinate their rights and themselves to the will of Christ first, and in consequence to the service of others.
Likewise, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness also renounce the expectation that man can eventually make the world into paradise. Their hope is in the righteousness that only the reign of Christ can bring.
The merciful have given up their own dignity and become devoted to others, helping the needy, the infirm, and the outcasts.
The pure in heart are no longer troubled by the call of this world, they have resigned themselves to the call of Christ and His desires for their lives.
The peacemakers abhor the violence that is so often used to solve problems. This point would be of special significance for Bonhoeffer, who was writing on the eve of World War II. The peacemakers maintain fellowship where others would find a reason to break off a relationship. These individuals always see another option.{9}
Those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake are willing to suffer for the cause of Christ. Any and every just cause becomes their cause because it is part of the overall work of Christ. Suffering becomes the way to communion with God.{10}
To this list is added the final blessing pronounced on those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. These will receive a great reward in heaven and be likened to the prophets who also suffered.
Bonhoeffer's emphasis on suffering is directly connected to the suffering of Christ. The church is called to bear the whole burden of Christ, especially as it pertains to suffering, or it must collapse under the weight of the burden.{11} Christ has suffered, says Bonhoeffer, but His suffering is efficacious for the remission of sins. We may also suffer, but our suffering is not for redemptive purposes. We suffer, says Bonhoeffer, not only because it is the church's lot, but so that the world may see us suffering and understand that there is a way that men can bear the burdens of life, and that way is through Christ alone.
Discipleship for Bonhoeffer was not limited to what we can comprehend--it must transcend all comprehension. The believer must plunge into the deep waters beyond the comprehension and everyday teaching of the church, and this must be done individually and collectively.
Notes:
1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, trans. R.H. Fuller, rev. ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1960), 30.
2. Ibid., 53.
3. Ibid., 54.
4. Ibid., 59.
5. Ibid., 87.
6. Ibid., 87.
7. Ibid., 94.
8. Ibid., 98.
9. Ibid., 102.
10. Ibid., 102.
11. Ibid., 102.
