A MODERN PROPHET sharing God's burden VI
What does it mean to “obey the Word of
God?” It is not always easy to see how
the contents of Scripture[1] can be
obeyed in the present-day Global North.
Surely, a collection of texts issuing from the Ancient Near
East/Greco-Roman world – a world with no clear divide between sacred/secular
(i.e., where “religious” beliefs were taken seriously) – cannot be “applied” in
a facile manner to our democratic, pluralistic and relativistic society where
no one cares much what you believe, provided you “play nice” in public. Be that as it may, history sometimes
conspires to bridge the historical/cultural/ideological ditch[2] which habitually
yawns between the world of the Bible and our own, seemingly domesticated,
(post)modern world.
The twentieth century was one such
moment. Under the heal of totalitarian
regimes in both Europe and Asia (of which the Caesars of ancient Rome would
have been envious), more Christians were martyred than in the previous 19
centuries combined.[3] Even John of Patmos, sending his “revelation”
to the “seven churches of Asia” (cf. Rev. 1.9-11), could (perhaps) not have
imagined such a multitude of martyrs.[4] Be that as it may, the book of Revelation
took on a new relevance for those Christians, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906—45),
who not only refused all compromise with idolatrous tyrannical regimes, but
also actively opposed said governments.
Adolph Hitler (1889—1945) claimed an allegiance from the German people
which, Bonhoeffer[5] was
convinced, a Christian in good conscience could only render to Christ. In the Germany of the Third Reich (1933—45),
the questions of What is the church?, What does it mean to be a Christian? and
To what extent should a Christian obey a totalitarian government?[6] came to
the fore in a manner perhaps not seen since the apostolic/patristic ages. Added to the gravity of the situation was the
ambiguity resulting from Christendom’s blurring of the lines between loyalty to
God and to “Christian” governments[7] (powers
who ruled in the name of God)[8]. Add a global war to the equation, and you
have a perfect ethical storm. This is a
storm that Bonhoeffer willingly entered, armed only with his Bible and his
conscience.[9]
It is perhaps not surprising that the biblical
figure of Jeremiah was an important part of Bonhoeffer’s mental/spiritual
furniture during the years of the Third Reich.
In January of 1934, Bonhoeffer preached his famous “Jeremiah sermon” in
London, UK, in which he (implicitly) compared himself to the “weeping prophet”
whose incessant warnings to the people of God of the 6th century
B.C. of impending disaster (in the form of a foreign invasion) had gone
unheeded until it was too late.[10] Indeed, as the church struggle proceeded
among the Lutherans of Germany and as Bonhoeffer became more and more convinced
– and vocal – about the absolute necessity of actively resisting Hitler,
he found himself ever more isolated, not only from the pro-Nazi “German
Christians”, but also from his comrades in the “Confessing Church” who
preferred a more calculated and subtle approach to resistance. Like that of Jeremiah, Bonhoeffer’s was a
lonely voice, crying out for justice and truth in the face of both an evil
regime and a compromised and complacent people of God. Like Jeremiah, Bonhoeffer was aware of a very
specific call upon his life, one that would demand absolutely everything of him
(cf. Jer. 1.4-19).[11] Like Jeremiah, Bonhoeffer wrestled with
depression amidst the many pressures and dangers of the fight for authentic discipleship
in the shadow of (ever-possible) death (cf. Jer. 11.18-20; 20.7-18).[12] Like Jeremiah, Bonhoeffer believed himself
called to share the sufferings of God[13],
even as he was imbued with hope for the future beyond the shadow of Nazism (cf.
Jer. 32—33).[14]
[1] I.e., the Word of God written
(to be distinguished from both the Word spoken through the prophets,
Christ and the apostles and the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Word of God made
flesh).
[2] Pace Lessing.
[3] It is estimated that 26
million Christians were killed in odium fidei during the 20th
century; cf. https://www.gordonconwell.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2019/04/2Countingmartyrsmethodology.pdf
(accessed May 27, 2024); https://www.firstthings.com/article/2001/04/the-catholic-martyrs-of-the-twentieth-century
(accessed May 27, 2024).
[4] It is now believed that
John did not write the book of Revelation in the context of a systematic
attempt on behalf of the Roman Empire to destroy the church, though that would
sometimes occur during the first three centuries AD (under emperors Decius and
Diocletian, etc.). Rather, the visions
of mass martyrdom to be found in the text of Revelation seem to
constitute John’s anticipation of what he believed would surely come to pass
(soon), provided Christians were to take a bold stance of sole and unique allegiance
to Christ as Lord, as opposed to Caesar (who also claimed both the title
and the allegiance/worship which were the appropriate response to kaisar
kurios).
[5] As well as the other
signatories of the Barmen Declaration (1934).
However, Bonhoeffer would often act in such a way, based on this
conviction, that many of his comrades in the Confessing Church of Germany could
not bring themselves to do.
[6] Bonhoeffer even asked,
as early as 1933, if a Christian could, in good conscience, conspire to kill a
tyrannical head of state.
[7] Cf. Rom. 13.1-7 (often
interpreted as encouraging a quietist, passive submission to the state). Cf.
[8] The situation of the
Lutheran church in Germany that Bonhoeffer and his contemporaries inherited was
the product of an over 4-centuries-long combination of nationalism, religious
establishment and German culture (Luther’s 1534 translation of the Bible had both
reinvigorated and standardized the German language). God, nation and church (along with a
conservative deference to authority) were wrapped tightly together; Hitler
exploited this nexus of faith/patriotism to the full… (as all the European
powers had done during the Great War).
Hence Hitler’s creation of a Reichsbischof who would rule the
established church with Nazi interests at heart, the Deutsche Christen
push to allow the Lutheran church to be co-opted by the Nazi regime and the
resulting formation, in protest, of the Confessing Synod (which Bonhoeffer
wanted the international Ecumenical Movement to recognize as the authentic
church of Germany, alas to no avail). In
the end, many Christians believed that to be a good Christian was the
equivalent of being a good Nazi (or at least a submissive subject of the Reich/the
Fuhrer); even most members of the Confessing “church” were not, for
Bonhoeffer, rigorous enough in making a clear distinction between their
allegiance to Christ, their loyalty to their country and their opposition to
Hitler and the Nazi regime. Did being a
good German (Christian) mean fighting for Germany against the Allies? Many of Bonhoeffer’s seminary students would
fight and die under the sign of the swastika (cf. several of his Letters
from Prison written to his close friend Eberhard Bethge who was fighting to
defend Italy against the Allied campaign.
Bethge would later become Bonhoeffer’s biographer). Confusing times indeed…
[9] Cf. Luther’s
(purported) statements at the Diet of Worms in 1521.
[10] Cf. Metaxas, Eric, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy,
Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010, pp. 208-10; cf. Bonhoeffer’s repeated
allusions to Jeremiah chapter 45 (Jeremiah’s word of encouragement to his
scribe, Baruch) in his Letters and Papers from
Prison, London: Collins Fontana Books, 1959 [1953], pp. 27, 76, 90,
125, 157. Indeed, Bonhoeffer’s prison
letters are peppered with quotations from Jeremiah, and the Psalms…and Scripture
in general. His Bible was with him to
the end, and was obviously a great source of strength for him during his 2-year
imprisonment. Indeed, ever since having
experienced a radical deepening of his faith in 1931-32 (following his first visit
to America), the Bible had come alive for Bonhoeffer in a new way; cf. A
Testament to Freedom: The essential writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (eds.
Geffrey B. Kelly & F. Burton Nelson), New York: HarperOne, 1995 [1990], pp.
424-25. Like Jeremiah, Bonhoeffer was in
prison as enemy armies closed in (in the latter case, it was the Allied forces)
and like the biblical prophet, Bonhoeffer did much reflection and writing while
imprisoned. While Jeremiah had
encouraged his compatriots to surrender to the invading Babylonians, Bonhoeffer
had participated in the (failed) Valkyrie plot to assassinate Hitler on July
20, 1944. This was the culmination of a
decade of plotting against Hitler on the part of the German military
establishment, initially with the goal of establishing a new government that
would be able to negotiate a reasonable surrender with the Allies (however, the
Allies had insisted on total victory, as had Hitler). This was the reason Bonhoeffer was eventually
executed, though he had initially been arrested on suspicion of relatively
minor infractions committed as a government employee.
[11] Cf. Metaxas, Eric, Bonhoeffer:
Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, pp. 121-24.
[12] Bonhoeffer,
Letters and Papers from Prison, London: Collins Fontana Books, 1959
[1953], p. 40.
[13] Cf. Abraham Heschel, The
Prophets, New York: HarperCollins, 2001 [1962], pp. 30-31; Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, pp. 122-25.
[14] Just as Jeremiah’s “Book
of Hope” (Jer. 30—33) is set in the context of his imprisonment (and an attempt
on his life) in Jerusalem’s “court of the guard” during the 18-month Babylonian
siege (cf. Jer. 37—39) and contains Jeremiah’s vision of Israel’s restoration beyond
the horrors of defeat, destruction and the shame of exile, so Bonhoeffer’s Letters
from Prison (1943—44) reveal both his belief in the God-given goodness of
life and his hope that there would be a future for Germany on the far side of
its defeat and destruction at the hands of the Allies and the shame of having
colluded with Nazi barbarism (once the full extent of the Nazi’s crimes came to
light; due to his connections in the war office, Bonhoeffer was more aware of
the horrors of the Holocaust than most civilians at the time). Bonhoeffer was killed on April 9, 1945, as
the Russians were encircling the German capital and two weeks before Hitler
killed himself in his Berlin bunker.
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