Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together - Book Report/Review Example

Life Together Number Introduction The German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) wrote LifeTogether while teaching at an underground seminary. The book was first published in 1939 by the Christian Kaiser Verlag, in the German language. That Bonhoeffer had intended to entrench love and harmonious living, is a matter that is underscored by the book, since it was written against the backdrop of the Interwar period, a time when suspicion and hatred had soared to deplorable levels. Thesis statement By stating that the Church is a divine and spiritual reality sustained by God’s love in Christ, Bonhoeffer intends to mean that not only should the Church be united in God’s love, but that it owes its allegiance to God alone (not any government). Summary Opening his discourse with a quote from Psalm 133:1, Bonhoeffer uses the Church, the community of believers to discuss the essence of Christian brotherhood, and the responsibility that proceeds therefrom. This is seen in Bonhoeffer’s assertion that without Christ, a discordant relationship between man and God and man and his fellow man would prevail, since Christ is the initiator of brotherhood. Detailing the reality of the functions of the Church as a living and virile organism which he christened a community of love, Bonhoeffer as a pastor discusses the meaning and needs of the Body of Christ, in light of disparity between it and the Church in the Acts of the Apostles and the way the world esteemed the Church. Bonhoeffer uses three facets to discuss these matters that relate to the Church: the centrality of Christ, the divine reality of the Church and the Church as a community of God’s love (Bonhoeffer, 1978). Throughout the discourse, Bonhoeffer sees the Church as the place of meeting for Christianity. Bonhoeffer is categorical that as the body of the Church, Christians are to exercise spiritual gifts for edification and to reach out through the Church, those who have not yet come to Christ. Bonhoeffer is poignant that Christians must remain united, despite their liturgical differences. Bonhoeffer says that there is an empirical experience which characterizes the assembling of believers to commune with Christ. He asserts that the Church is not a theological or philosophical system of thought, but instead, God’s final revelation about His divine Self, as Christ Himself existing in the community. To Bonhoeffer, the import of this is that Christians should confess their sins one to another and that instead of waiting for a revelation before embarking on something, they should prayerfully and continuously consider that which is right. This is because, many a time, God has revealed His will to His people who only need to muster their courage and work their faith into action. Conversely, Bonhoeffer sees the Church as a community of love, since it keeps its focus on Christ as the ultimate solution. To Bonhoeffer, the Church is worthy of this title since Christians congregate to share their lives, accept one another with God’s unconditional love, and thereby keeping the socio-spiritual bond in the Body of Christ. As one man becomes another’s brother and a woman, another’s sister, the Church becomes more compact as it bears with each person’s burdens, in the endeavor to cultivate a deeper spiritual and more Christ-like character. According to Marty (2008), Bonhoeffer from the outset asserts that the Church is not a desire, a wish, or a visionary dream and can neither therefore be contrived by a sleight of hand, nor can its failures be blamed on any individual. On the contrary, the Church as God’s creation in Christ can only be characterized by gratitude, fellowship and provisions because of Christ’s sacrificial work on the cross. Because of this, Bonhoeffer maintains that not even the clergy has the right to castigate the Church, but is instead to make intercession and give thanks for the congregation entrusted to Him. Bonhoeffer maintains that the Church is not an ideal and is therefore not also a human reality. Instead, the Church is a spiritual and divine reality, since its genesis is Jesus Christ, unlike human reality which emanate from desire. Again, the Church is exempted from being a human reality by the virtue of being governed by the Spirit and God’s Word. In the same wavelength, the Church is exempted from being a spiritual reality since the fellowship of its members focuses on Christ and the love among believers ensues from Christ and proceeds to fellow members, through Christ. The gravity behind this standpoint is that disciplining members of the Church can only be done through Christ, in prayer; and not directly, since direct intervention may be tantamount to coercion. Section III Ways in Which the Historical Context of the Document Shed Light on Its Meaning There are several ways in which the historical context of the document helps shed light on the document’s meaning. Particularly, the document dates back to 1939 when it was published. Although World War II began in 1939, it is most plausible that the document was produced during the Interwar period since its authorship must precede its publication. The Interbellum is known to have been characterized by socio-political and economic tumult as the world, especially Europe was still reeling from the effects of World War I. Apart from contending with the Great Depression, Germany as the document’s geographical context was contending with the botched Beer Hall Putsch and hyperinflation. Despite these two adverse developments being unique to the Weimer Republic, they heralded the advent of Nazism in Germany. With Adolf Hitler being appointed the Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Church in Germany was being coerced to become part of the Nazi Gleichschaltung as part of a wider scheme to emasculate it. It is against this backdrop that Bonhoeffer became categorical that the Church is a spiritual and divine reality; not a human reality that one should seek to influence it directly (through coercion). Since the Confessing Church had called Bonhoeffer from London where he had sought asylum following his refusal to enter Hitler’s German-Christian compromise, Bonhoeffer became the abbot of the illegal underground seminary which was in Pomerania. In this seminary in Finkenwalde, Bonhoeffer shared a house with 25 vicars. To Bonhoeffer, this was life together, the life in which Christ was living as a community. It is this life that Bonhoeffer documented in Life Together, in 1938. In respect to the foregoing, when Bonhoeffer is talking of the centrality of Christ in the Church, it is obvious that he was discounting German-Christian compromise system which was centralized around Hitler. Again, the Interbellum was characterized by schism in the German Church as many had been compromised to accept Hitler’s German-Christian compromise while others opposed it. This is the reason Bonhoeffer devoted a great portion of the document to call for the embracing of brotherhood and Christ’s love among Christians. Influence That the Biographical Details about the Author’s Life Have on Personal Interpretation of the Document It is a fact that Bonhoeffer’s biographical details have tremendous influence on the way the document may be interpreted, and that his life contributed greatly to the releasing of Life Together. For instance, while living in Berlin with his father who was a respected physician, psychiatrist and an ardent follower of realism, Bonhoeffer would have his theological ideas tending towards realism. Life Together largely repudiates phraseology, in favor of the real. It is for this purpose that to Bonhoeffer, Christianity was not merely a doctrine divorced from life’s reality, an intellectual theory or a mystical emotion, but an obedient action, as a call to Christ’s call to discipleship. This discipleship permeated an individual’s everyday life. It is against this backdrop that in Life Together, Bonhoeffer castigated the clergy’s complacency at the time the Nazis carried onslaughts against the Jew and also makes a clarion call for Christians to appreciate the reality of brotherhood. For the same reason, Bonhoeffer lengthily discusses what should be done as members of the Church meet to congregate. Kim (2011) observes that Bonhoeffer’s biography also reveals that Bonhoeffer frequently rubbed shoulders with leading scholars in Berlin such as Karl Holl (1866—1926), Reinhold Seeberg (1859–1935), Hans Lietzmann (1875-1942), Karl Barth (1886-1968) and Karl P. Reinhold Niebuhr (1892 – 1971). These influential thinkers helped nurture his zeal for wide readership, so that he became reputed as an avid reader, a brilliant student and a respect scholar. Prior to this, he had acknowledged his zeal for theology at 16, and later proceeded to Tubingen, for the same. As a student, Bonhoeffer was known for his insight into Martin Luther’s theology, particularly on the Law and the Gospels and the Theology of the Cross. This is before Bonhoeffer had proceeded to the Union Theological Seminary, New York, for his postgraduate studies. It is for this same reason that Bonhoeffer took a very radical and insightful approach when discussing the essence and nature of the Church. It is also indisputable that having served as the pastor of large congregations in Charlottenburg technical schools, Bonhoeffer spent a large fraction of Life Together on matters that touching on Ecclesiology (the internal cohesion of the Church, liturgy and worship and the relation between the Church and the pastor). The Audience to Which the Document Is Addressed The immediate audience is the Christian community in Germany in the Interwar period- the reality of different denominations therein, notwithstanding. It is obvious that the Church had been split into two, with some sympathizing with German-Christian compromise system, as others opposed it. One therefore understands why Bonhoeffer devotes thoughts and discussions on Christian brotherhood, Christ’s love and the Church being a divine and spiritual reality and not human reality. The import of the Church’s essence as a divine and spiritual reality is that it belongs to Christ (not man), and it was therefore wrong for the Church to tolerate Nazi Gleichschaltung. Thus, a critical observer can see that Life Together is not only a call to Christian brotherhood and love, but a quasi political piece, as it opposed the political attempt by the Nazi government to compromise the German Church. In as much as the document was intended for the edification of the Church, the author intended to convey the call to resist outside political interference also. The entire Church can also be considered Bonhoeffer’s audience since the same problems that had beset the Interwar German Church has been bedeviling the Church, ever since the Roman Empire accepted Christianity in the Edict of Toleration, 311 AD (Cole, Jr. and Allan, 2010). The author’s key presupposition is that his immediate audience is fully Christian and under the lordship of Jesus Christ. There is no room for discussing the validity of Biblical Scriptures and Christian doctrines. It is for this reason that Bonhoeffer only gives scriptural references such as Psalm 133:1 and theological discussions, for his treatise. However, the evidence that Bonhoeffer presents is totally sufficient to defend his thesis. Bonhoeffer got himself in theological controversies of the time, such as: having to contend with the state’s attempt to muzzle the Church; fighting complacency in the face of state-sanctioned crimes against humanity (the Jew); and having to unite the Church which is split on a fundamentally serious matter. Bonhoeffer sheds light on future theological controversies that he got involved in by showing the place of Christ in the Church, in relation to the genesis of the Church, and the obligations that the Church has. By this, he means that the Church’s commitment to Christ must be supreme. Conclusion The doctrinal importance of the document at the time it was written is that the document shows that having been founded and sustained by God in Christ, the Church has its allegiance primarily tending towards Christ. In the same vein, the Church is one family of believers in Christ, united in one common bond of brotherhood, not to please people but Christ. This doctrinal importance continues today and remains theologically significant in the present age, at a time when the Church is being faced with pressure to embrace anthropocentric policies such as abortion and same-sex marriage, instead of Christ-centered values. Again, the Church’s commitment to Christ must be supreme even in these situations. References Bonhoeffer, D. (1978). Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community. New York: Harper One. Cole, Jr. & Allan H. (2010). “What Makes Care Pastoral?” Pastoral Psychology, 59 (6), 711- 723. Kim, J. S. (2011). “New Church Rising.” International Review of Mission, 100 (1), 26-36. Marty, M. E. (2008). “Life Together.” U.S. Catholic. 73 (9), 14-14. Read More