Life Together (Reader’s Edition)
Due to licensing restrictions this product is only available in the United States.
Overview
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the most influential Christian martyrs in history, bequeathed to humanity a legacy of theological creativity and spirituality that continues to intrigue people from a variety of backgrounds. Life Together gathers Bonhoeffer’s 1938 reflections on the character of Christian community, based on the common life that he and his seminarians experienced at the Finkenwalde Seminary and in the “Brother’s House” there. The stimulus for the writing of Life Together was the closing of the preacher’s seminary at Finkenwalde by the Nazis. While Bonhoeffer wrote with his own seminary community in mind, he intended Life Together to have a more universal impact, and spoke of a mission and responsibility of the church as a whole. Using the acclaimed Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works English translation and adapted to a more accessible format, this new edition features supplemental material from Victoria J. Barnett and an insightful introduction by Geffrey B. Kelly to clarify the theological meaning and social importance of Bonhoeffer’s work.
Top Highlights
“Emotional love loves the other for the sake of itself; spiritual love loves the other for the sake of Christ.” (Page 16)
“It is essential for Christian community that two things become clear right from the beginning. First, Christian community is not an ideal, but a divine reality; second, Christian community is a spiritual [pneumatisch] and not an emotional [psychisch] reality.” (Page 9)
“The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.” (Page 3)
“Pastors should not complain about their congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. Congregations have not been entrusted to them in order that they should become accusers of their congregations before God and their fellow human beings. When pastors lose faith in a Christian community in which they have been placed and begin to make accusations against it, they had better examine themselves first to see whether the underlying problem is not their own idealized image, which should be shattered by God.” (Page 12)
“The basis of spiritual community is truth; the basis of emotional community is desire” (Page 14)
- Title: Life Together (Reader’s Edition)
- Author: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- Edition: Reader’s Edition
- Series: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works
- Publisher: Fortress Press
- Print Publication Date: 2015
- Logos Release Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Christian life; Christian communities
- ISBNs: 9781506402765, 9781506402772, 1506402763, 1506402771
- Resource ID: LLS:LIFETOGETHER
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:15:45Z
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), a German theologian, pastor, and ecumenist, was a professor in Berlin, an uncompromising teacher in the Confessing Church, and a consistent opponent of National Socialism. Executed by Hitler at the end of World War II, his influence continues today as one of the most important theologians of the twentieth century. Bonhoeffer penned countless letters, portions of fiction, and several works on theology and ethics that have shaped modern religious thought. Life Together and The Cost of Discipleship are two examples of this modern martyr’s enduring legacy.