Discipleship in a World Full of Nazis: Recovering the True Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

by Mark Nation

Cultural testimony must emerge from the church’s constant and singular preoccupation, which is to give attention to God’s self-declaration in the gospel, and to allow its thought, speech and action to be broken and remade through its hearing. The community of Jesus Christ is a community which is brought into being by the gospel, sustained in life by the gospel and summoned to bear witness to the gospel; and because that is true, the church can only be what it is if its entire life and activity emerges out of the event of starting again with the gospel. For the community of Jesus Christ, there is simply nowhere else to begin. (21) This sort of affirmation is at the root of Bonhoeffer’s opposition to a principled approach to ethics (which leaves the gospel behind) and an articulation of what in his earlier writings sounded like a radically contextual approach to ethics (wanting to make room for a fresh hearing of the gospel each day). These root concerns would remain with Bonhoeffer. However, he came to have confidence not only in the ongoing revelation of God through Jesus Christ but also in its ongoing consistency (known through Jesus, the biblical witness, and Christ existing as community). But he also realized the need for vigilance in sustaining the Christian community’s ongoing dependence on the God known through Jesus Christ.