The Forming of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Let’s begin with a boy in lederhosen and blond hair sitting under a tree in his back garden reading from his Luther Bible. He is precocious, but so were his three brothers and four sisters. After all, his father, Karl, was the most famous neurologist in Germany. His mother, Paula, was a member of German royalty. They lived in the most prestigious neighborhood in Berlin. Their home, a three-story mini mansion, at 7 Birkenwaldchen which had gabled roofs, numerous chimneys, a screened porch, and a large balcony overlooking the spacious garden was idyllic. The Governess could watch over Dietrich as he read his brother’s Luther Bible that had been given to him after his older brother, Walter, had been killed in battle in the first days of his entry into The Great War. Walter’s death cast a dark pallor over the family. Dietrich’s mother was bedridden with grief. It was a time for reflection as Dietrich would read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Pinocchio, and many other classics of literature.
The family was very competitive. They possessed a dominant secular mind set even though Paula made sure the children were taught the Bible. Dietrich’s brother, Klaus, was to become a lawyer. His middle brother, Karl, would work with Einstein. Dietrich aspired to be a concert pianist until he learned, as did Elton John, that his fingers were too short. At fourteen he announced that he would become a theologian. His family was both surprised and alarmed, and scoffed at him for making such a useless spectacle of his life. Adolf Von Harnack, a family friend, was the most famous church historian in Europe, so the family reconciled it to be a respectable profession.
Many have asked the question, “Why did such a young man, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, make such a big impact in such a short period?” The answer is status, brilliance, confidence and courage.
Status
He was a member of the German elite, informal royalty if you will. He always had money, was the best dressed, and traveled first class. In fact, some would say Dietrich was spoiled. His parents made life easy with a generous allowance, nice clothes, opera tickets, special foods sent to him when he lived in less refined settings, and a new Mercedes Convertible. That status included the family lineage, open doors to the right schools, and friendship with the culture’s decision makers. When it was discovered in Tegal prison that his uncle was in charge of the department that provided oversight of prisons he was given better treatment.
Brilliance
He was awarded his PhD at age 21, earlier than most, and his dissertation, which normally would be stowed in a university library never to be read again, was called a “theological miracle” by the esteemed Karl Barth. When he spent nine months in New York at Union Theological Seminary he stood toe to toe with them, which was more than the faculty had bargained for. He even challenged the famous Reinhold Niebuhr if Union were producing politicians or theologians. Bonhoeffer believed they were weak in theology and shamed themselves by using ad hominem attacks to deal with conservative theologians. He complained that even though he had attended many hours of lecture and had heard scores of sermons in New York churches, the one thing he had not heard was the gospel.
Confidence
It came from a combination of his cultural status that he enjoyed joined to his brilliance which included insight with incisive thought patterns. This was seen in his contrarian nature, even with what normally would be his intimidating teachers at the University of Berlin. He somehow remained more moderate and conservative than his mentors. He stood his ground because he honestly saw life and truth differently. This is why in his early life, Luther was his model and, in his twenties, Karl Barth, the most important theologian in Europe, became a role model. Yet still, when spending time with Karl Barth, a theological demi-god to many, Bonhoeffer found himself arguing with him.
It is also true that Bonhoeffer met two people and had two experiences in New York that shaped much of his thinking. The first was meeting Jean Lasserre, a fellow student. It was through discussions with Lasserre, and seeing the German made film All Quiet on the Western Front (an anti-war film, banned in Germany), that Bonhoeffer began to seek a way to be a pacifist. The second experience was the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, a church with 14,000 members where he heard the gospel and later claimed to have become a Christian because of it. When he returned to Germany, he began to read the bible, pray, go to church, and take communion.
Courage
During his twenties, Bonhoeffer, even though young and considered a youth pastor/theologian, pushed his elders and church officials very hard. He was able to get an invitation to a world peace conference in Fano, Sweden, that no one wanted to extend to him. He was a member of the Confessing Church which stood against the National Socialist Party’s doctrine and their encroachment on the German Evangelical Church. There are many documented examples of Bonhoeffer taking a stand even when it cost him, and this of course extended throughout his life until his execution. The most famous, or best publicized, was his leaving New York the second time in June of 1939. If he would have stayed in New York he would have lived a long life, written more books, given more lectures, got fat, been married, had children, and died of lung cancer because of his beloved cigarettes. But a long life isn’t the most important value in this life. That is if you believe this life is simply a prelude to eternal life. If you do believe that eternal life begins when you step into discipleship to Christ and it continues on after physical death, then there is no hurry to cram everything into this life. There is no angst that you didn’t finish your work and that the work of God will continue without your participation. The kind of perspective that Bonhoeffer had frees us of these humanly flawed ideas. As Bonhoeffer is reportedly to have said either at his execution or the day before when taken to Flossenburg Prison, “This is the end, but for me it is the beginning of life.” What was formed in this young man’s life was that living as Christ’s disciple is living fully in this world while receiving direction from another more permanent world, the Kingdom of God.
