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Dietrich Bonhoeffer

He Paid the Ultimate Price for Costly Grace

On April 9, 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was killed at Flossenbürg concentration camp and became one of the great martyrs of the twentieth century. Many Christians today remember his enduring contributions to our faith and action.

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1906–24

Childhood

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (and his twin sister Sabine) was born in Germany on February 4, 1906, the sixth and seventh of eight Bonhoeffer children. His family moved to Berlin, where they grew in prominence until World War I (1914–1918). While the Bonhoeffers were nominal Christians at best, young Dietrich was set on a career in the Church. His brother’s death in World War I and a post-graduation visit to Rome, two key moments of Bonhoeffer’s childhood, further confirmed his ministry ambitions.

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1924–27

Theological Studies

Bonhoeffer began seminary at Berlin University right after graduation, where he progressed rapidly in his studies under Adolf von Harnack and Reinhold Seeberg. Bonhoeffer spent many long hours exploring theological topics through the writings of Martin Luther, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth, and many others. Bonhoeffer’s dissertation, Sanctorum Communio, was completed in 1927 and contained his first views on the Church and God’s self-revelation.

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1927–31

Travels & Writing

After his graduation from Berlin University, Bonhoeffer spent a year as an assistant pastor at a church in Barcelona where he began to see the practical effects of theology. In 1929, he returned to Berlin for postdoctoral work and continued writing.


Following his exams, Bonhoeffer was an exchange student at Union Theological Seminary in New York, where he witnessed firsthand the injustices African Americans faced. He saw racism as the question Americans must address—and to further the cause, he became active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). For the first time in his life, Bonhoeffer began attending church more regularly, finding a home at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.


Back home in Germany, post-WWI unrest was growing, taking the forms of nationalism and anti-Semitism. At first Bonhoeffer and his family weren’t alarmed—but they would soon learn the extent of what was occurring in Nazi Germany.

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Cost of Discipleship

Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without repentance; it is baptism without the discipline of community; it is the Lord’s Supper without confession of sin; it is absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without the living, incarnate Jesus Christ.

1931–35

Ecumenism

Shortly after returning to Germany, Bonhoeffer experienced his first real interaction with the ecumenical movement (or affiliation between churches and denominations). Ecumenism became one of Bonhoeffer’s great passions, even as nationalism widened divisions in Germany, Europe, and beyond.


Further, Nazi influence among German Christians deepened as influential theologians, though they denied Nazi membership, condoned the movement. When the Nazis formed a new government-controlled church and placed restrictions on Jewish Christians, Bonhoeffer and his ecumenical companions became more outspoken against the regulations.


Ecumenism became Bonhoeffer’s mission—even during a brief stint pastoring in London—as he united with Martin Niemöller, Karl Barth, Franz Hildebrandt, and others to form the Confessing Church.

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1935–40

Teaching

Bonhoeffer couldn’t stay away from Germany for long—he knew the stakes were high and that the Church must resist Hitler and his hordes. He returned to lead the Confessing Church’s new preacher’s seminary, which he established at Zingst and then Finkenwalde. The seminary, drawing cues from the Sermon on the Mount, became Bonhoeffer’s model for what true community among Christians should look like. Hints of Finkenwalde appear in Bonhoeffer’s books—especially Life Together (1939) and Discipleship (1937). The seminary operated for two years before being shut down by the government. But rather than dissolving the seminary meetings, Bonhoeffer continued teaching underground, meeting in various locations until World War II began on September 1, 1939.

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1940-43

Resistance

Now that war was a reality, the Confessing Church’s resistance continued—under even greater oppression than before. The government censured Bonhoeffer and prohibited him from public speaking, preaching, and publishing—which he appeared to do outwardly, though he remained active in the resistance. Instead, he relied on his theologian status and connections to Great Britain to continue the Confessing Church’s work. He also began writing Ethics, which paints a picture of Christian community and cultural engagement as he believed it ought to be.

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, vol. 13: London: 1933–1935

It is also time for a final break with our theologically grounded reserve about whatever is being done by the state—which really only comes down to fear. 'Speak out for those who cannot speak'—who in the Church today still remembers that this is the very least the Bible asks of us in such times as these?

1943–45

Imprisonment and Death

Bonhoeffer and his friends knew they would pay dearly for their resistance against Hitler’s regime. Yet for Bonhoeffer, inaction was not an option.

He was arrested in 1943 on suspicion of being involved in the resistance against Hitler, though his role couldn’t be proven until after the attempt on Hitler’s life on July 20, 1944. He was held at Tegel Prison for most of those two years, though he was eventually shuffled to other prisons. During his incarceration, he wrote many letters to his family, friends, and fiancee Maria von Wedemeyer, which are published as Letters and Papers from Prison.

The events of July 20, 1944, heaped renewed hostility upon Bonhoeffer and thousands of others in the resistance. He was killed on April 9, 1945, at Flossenbürg concentration camp—only three weeks before Hitler’s suicide and four weeks before Victory in Europe (V-E) Day.
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1945–PRESENT

Impact

Bonhoeffer, named as one of the great modern martyrs, would have bristled at being called a “martyr.” He didn’t see his suffering as any different from others suffering during the war.


Bonhoeffer’s unwavering resistance has motivated Christians around the world to stand firm against the evils they face. In the United States, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement were informed by Bonhoeffer’s model of Christian, non-violent cultural engagement. In China, Christians see Bonhoeffer as an example of Christian community united in the face of oppression.


Bonhoeffer’s legacy doesn’t end there—his life, work, and mission still speak to us today as we grapple with the calling of community, Christian cultural engagement, and injustice.

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Explore Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life and Legacy with These Resources

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