The Seeds of Greatness: The Character of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“… it had become not so unusual lately to hear people ask whether the church still had any relevance, whether they still needed God. But this question, he said, was wrongly put. The paramount concern is in fact ‘whether we are willing to offer our lives to the church and the world, for this is what God desires.’”[1]
The twenty-five-year-old Dietrich Bonhoeffer was no lightweight. He combined his social status as a scion of the Berlin intellectual elite with his two doctoral degrees and a contrarian personality to position himself for influence. He had challenged Reinhold Niebuhr and the Union Theological Seminary faculty during his nine-month stay in New York. Bonhoeffer said that, in America, Christians fashioned their theology like a man orders his car from a factory; all ideas were on the table if they could serve a useful end. Now, he would do the same with the theologian he most admired, Karl Barth. The forty-nine-year-old Barth was just starting his church dogmatics, his attempt to rebuild the crumbling edifice of Christian orthodoxy. Almost single handily, Barth moved all of theological Europe from the far left into the middle of the theological spectrum, a new place called neo-orthodoxy. Barth believed that theology bore no responsibility for changing society, that theology makes nothing happen. Bonhoeffer argued that theology is of no use if it is not rooted in reality. Barth’s students worshipped him, Bonhoeffer admired him, benefitted from him, and then challenged him. That was Dietrich Bonhoeffer at twenty-five.
At age twenty-five he was eligible for ordination and took two part-time jobs: as a chaplain at Technical University in Berlin, and as an unpaid lecturer in the theology department at the University of Berlin (a few years later, Bonhoeffer would say, he no longer believed in the university). Before he could begin his unpaid job, however, he would need to complete a full slate of comprehensive examinations, as neither job came with an office.
Just before he began his new duties, he attended a World Alliance conference in Cambridge, England. He created quite a stir with his belief that there could be harmony among nations. His views were rejected by the German delegation as both naïve and unpatriotic. Upon return to the yellow brick train station on the corner of Wilhelmstrasse, his father’s chauffeur waited in a black Mercedes to pick up Dietrich. He may not have had a paying job, but he had his creature comforts. This is an important feature of Bonhoeffer’s life - he slept on silk sheets.
He began his new assignment at Berlin Technical University, and it would prove to be very frustrating. He offered to lead discussion groups on stimulating theological subjects and he found zero interest. He confessed that he felt like a housewife who prepared great meals, but no one was hungry. Students would tear down the fliers he posted of his meetings. He came up with new programs, but again, no interest - only opposition. He offered lectures, prayer services, and study groups - all rejected by the students. He did have one student show up once. Morning devotions were cancelled because of a lack of interest. He posted his office hours and would sit for hours, yet no one came. Finally, there was some interest shown if he would hold his discussion at a beer hall and would pay for the beer.
Bonhoeffer was not discouraged as much as he was insulted by these Philistines. This goes back to his confidence, his sense of rightness. He just knew better than the less noble, the under educated. He now turned to the job at the University of Berlin. For years his rise had been impressive - the schooling, the special friendships, the academic praise, being taken seriously. Now he had arrived at the great University of Berlin, joining a faculty whose political orientation he no longer shared and a church that was corrupt and dull. He would sit in his office and grade papers, alone.
Finally, on the fifteenth of November 1931, Bonhoeffer was ordained to ministry at Saint Matthias Church. He was now eligible to preach and administer the sacraments. He, like Barth, would now “stand in the strange new land of the bible and let its ‘wild and crooked tree’ grow freely, without constraint”[2].
He began his work as a pastoral assistant at Zionskirche in the worst part of Berlin. Fifty boys fell under his supervision (the youth group). This is what is so great about the church, it’s a great leveler and even a better teacher.
He discovered the only way he could bring the boys under control were Bible stories of David & Goliath, Samson, crossing the Red Sea, the Plagues, et al.
He threw himself into the privation and unemployment that beset the boy’s families He visited in their homes, he counseled them, and prayed with them. Quite a change for this son of privilege. He would play Negro (this world could be offensive today) spirituals, he taught them to play chess, read scriptures, tell stories, and a bit of catechizing to boot. His work in the inner-city of Berlin made Bonhoeffer aware of the limits of his training. It made him recall that theologians and theology are the servants of the church, indeed they are. In fact, when asked to describe his work in Zionskirche, “What a liberation!” he said. He loved the retreats. The boys would sit with him as they discussed the joys of the devotional life, of prayer, and of contemplation of the beauty of the Harz Mountains.
It was during this time that Bonhoeffer was struck with the simplicity and directness of Jesus’ teaching. And the concreteness of their demands. These were the roots for his most famous work, The Cost of Discipleship. It led to the young Bonhoeffer that stepped to the lectern at his debut as a teacher:
“A young scholar stepped to the rostrum with a light, quick step, a man with very fair, rather thin hair, a broad face, rimless glasses with a golden bridge. After a few words of welcome, he explained the meaning and structure of the lecture, in a firm slightly throaty way of speaking. Then he opened his manuscript and began.” – Charles March, Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
His first words have now traveled through the decades. He said “… it had become not so unusual lately to hear people ask whether the church still had any relevance, whether they still needed God. But this question, he said, was wrongly put. The paramount concern is in fact ‘whether we are willing to offer our lives to the church and the world, for this is what God desires.’” And with that, a young Bonhoeffer was on his way.
[1] From Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Charles March of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s first lecture at the University of Berlin
[2] Bonhoeffer, Christ and Culture by Charles Marsh
