Dietrich Bonhoeffer

One month after Glen told me that he had terminal cancer, I was sitting with him at his dining table in Pasadena, California, discussing an autobiography that he intended as his final book. Glen asked me, "What should I include in my autobiography?" I insisted that he finally write about race. I knew that the topic was important for him as one of the central concepts influencing the connection he made between the way of Jesus and justice within his overall project in theological ethics. Throughout his long and fruitful career that included active participation in the Civil Rights Movement, advocating for human rights, opposition to the death penalty, opposition to torture, advocacy for Palestinians, for the environment, and for just peacemaking, one could hear an underdeveloped response to racism. But it was subtle, and awkward. He wanted to talk about it to improve his understanding. I was sure that he should finally do so in his autobiography. Glen had stories. During the Civil Rights Movement he was an activist, partnering with other activists who struggled for an end to Jim Crow segregation. His family was involved in that work as well, in a collective advocacy for a better society and in opposition to practices of authoritarianism and domination that target society's most vulnerable. Glen's activism stemmed from his formative childhood years in a Christian family that valued integrity and fairness and paid attention to social issues.

The basic thesis of this paper is that, by assigning discipleship the same starting point as Christology, Bonhoeffer provides an account in which, on the one hand, the task of Christology is an act of discipleship, and, on the other hand, discipleship is grounded in and shaped by Christology. Thus, I will argue that by attending to Bonhoeffer’s Christology of the counter Logos a corresponding understanding of discipleship emerges in which harmful conceptions of self and group identity must be consistently challenged and broken down. As a case study, I will look at how this plays out in relation to white supremacy in the church.

Contemporary political theology often defines itself against Lutheran social ethics, which is portrayed as politically disengaged and overly deferential to state power. At the same time, contemporary political theology often embraces the Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer as an exemplary political theologian. This incongruity is generally resolved by distancing Bonhoeffer from his tradition, at least on matters of political theology. But Bonhoeffer's political theology was thoroughly Lutheran. Throughout the years of his political-theological engagement, from the Nazi rise to power in 1932-33 to the drafting of Ethics and related writing in 1940-43, he participated in ongoing conversations within Lutheran social ethics on the issues of, among others, the two kingdoms and the orders. In the process, he critically appropriated these elements of Lutheran thinking into an especially dynamic and christocentric framework that in turn informed his positions on various issues such as the church's proclamation against the Nazi state and the ecumenical church's witness for peace. Bonhoeffer is an example of Lutheran political theology, one that suggests the need to revise at least the more sweeping judgments about Lutheran theology as inherently incompatible with political engagement.

This handbook provides a comprehensive resource for those wishing to understand the German theologian, pastor, and resistance conspirator Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–45) and his writings. It contains sections on Bonhoeffer’s life and context, his contributions to all areas of systematic theology and ethics, constructive uses of Bonhoeffer for engaging contemporary issues, and resources for studying Bonhoeffer today. Contributors include leading Bonhoeffer scholars, historians, theologians, and ethicists.

Introducing Dietrich Bonhoeffer to the field of communication rests upon one key assertion--Bonhoeffer's life and work provide us with insight into a communication style that is responsive to diverse ideas in a time of crisis. His communicative manner is dissimilar from that of those who contend with one another from a standpoint of conviction while being oblivious to the pragmatic importance of self-doubt. Bonhoeffer's position takes us far beyond the impulse of blind defense of one's own ideas, revealing the pragmatic importance of unifying what, at first blush, look like contradictory communicative actions: conviction and doubt. Bonhoeffer's communicative wisdom did not permit him to succumb to the temptation of conviction without question; he tempered his own and others' enthusiasm for assuming the undisputed correctness of their convictions.

Дитрих Бонхёффер (1906–1945) – известный немецкий теолог, участник движения немецкого Сопротивления, погибший в нацистском концлагере. В его теологических письмах, адресованных другу и пастору Эберхарду Бетге, зарождается богословская концепция «безрелигиозного христианства». Сформулированная лишь эскизно в личных дружеских письмах, концепция стала весомым вкладом в развитие западного богословия XX века. В статье раскрывается значение исследуемой концепции как призыва, обращенного к церкви и имеющего в своей основе служение христианской церкви в современном мире, ставшем безрелигиозным. Содержание концепции раскрывается в ряде тезисов, сформулированных в теологических письмах: во-первых, религиозность определяется как индивидуальное и метафизическое понимание христианской жизни; во-вторых, утверждается, что верующие познают трансцендентность Бога через общение с ближними; в-третьих, по мнению Бонхёффера, современный мир стал зрелым (совершеннолетним) и научился отвечать на самые сложные вопросы, не прибегая к Богу. Поэтому церковь должна научиться жить в безрелигиозном мире по образу общины служащей. Для этого необходимо возрождение катехизации, т. е. последовательное вхождение новых членов в таинственное и догматическое учение Церкви, с одной стороны, и внешняя открытость христианской общины для свидетельства о Христе – с другой.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) is a famous German theologian, member of German Resistance movement, who died in a Nazi concentration camp. In his theological letters to his friend and pastor Eberhard Bethge emerges his theological concept of “non-religious Christianity”. Formulated only in sketches in personal letters to his best friend, the concept became a significant contribution to the development of Western theology of the 20th century. The article reveals the significance of the researched concept as an appeal to the church based on the ministry of the Christian Church in the modern world, which has become nonreligious. The content of the concept is revealed in a number of theses formulated in the theological letters. Firstly, religiousness is defined as an individual and metaphysical understanding of Christian life. Secondly it is claimed that believers
recognize the transcendence of God through fellowship. Thirdly, according to Bonhoeffer, the modern world has become mature (adult) and has learned to answer the most complex questions without resorting to God. Therefore, the church must learn to live in a non-religious world in the image of a serving community. This requires a revival of catechesis, that is, the consistent entry of new members into the mysterious and dogmatic teachings of the Church, on the one hand, and the external openness of the Christian community to the testimony
of Christ, on the other.

Der 20.Juli ist in Deutschland dem Andenken des deutschen Widerstandes während der Nazi-Diktatur gewidmet. Er ist aber auch dem gewidmet, was wir das „Gewissen“ nennen, weil es beim deutschen Widerstand sich um einen extremen Konflikt von Gesellschaft und Individuum handelt. Wenn sich Individuen entscheiden, nicht nur gegen einen Teil, sondern gegen die Gesellschaft als Ganze sich zu verhalten, werden sie automatisch in einen inneren – moralischen – Konflikt getrieben. Diesen Konflikt hat Graf Stauffenberg in seinen berühmten Sätzen so ausgedrückt: „Derjenige, der etwas zu tun wagt, muss sich bewusst sein, dass er wohl als Verräter in die deutsche Geschichte eingehen wird. Unterlässt er jedoch die Tat, dann wäre er ein Verräter vor seinem Gewissen.“ In meinem Beitrag analysiere ich den Begriff des Gewissens in Hinsicht auf seine existentiellen, moralischen, und religiösen Aspekte.

The argument being made in this thesis is that Karl Rahner’s views on prison ministry, although valuable and of significance in their context, are not adequate to deal with the more complex needs and demands of prison ministry in the twenty first century. A greater pastoral appreciation is necessary of the traumas, conflicts and suffering experienced by prisoners, prison pastors, prison staff and, indeed, in the wider world. The subjective world of the prisoner also needs to be addressed in an effort to engage with his/her innate human desire for meaning and fulfilment. Consequently, a more contemporary approach to prison ministry is required today which will draw on concrete experience of the above-mentioned traumas and conflicts and which will be sensitive to and inspired by the search for meaning as experienced by prisoners/facilitated by prison pastors. Such an approach leads to a theology based on empowerment that can be found through a creative and meaning-centred response to suffering, as illustrated by the lives of Viktor E. Frankl, Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn and Etty Hillesum.

The paper discusses the distinction between content (core, nucleus) and linguistic formulation of theological statements as a fundamental hermeneutical structure of modern theology. Adolf von Harnack, Rudolf Bultmann and Dietrich Bonhoeffer are examined as representatives of this theological "Denkform", with its limits, but also with its permanent topical interest.

Although it has been claimed that Dietrich Bonhoeffer's controversial 1933 essay on "The Church and the Jewish Question" is riddled with inconsistencies, I argue that the essay is entirely consistent at least on the issue of church action with respect to the state. Seeing this requires recognizing that the essay is driven by the logic of the two kingdoms, that Lutheran way of understanding God's action in two dimensions of life, the spiritual and temporal.

Este texto e fruto de um estudo sobre a historia de Dietrich Bonhoeffer, tendo sido desenvolvido com a metodologia de pesquisa bibliografica sob o vies da traducao de mais de uma dezena de obras, cujas discussoes elucidam a cristologia bonhoefferiana. A vida e a obra desse martir estao enfocadas no significativo ato de falar de Jesus naquela epoca e na contemporaneidade. O legado do pastor mostra que um cristao nao e vencido pelas barreiras politico-sociais.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's story is of great relevance for bringing the life and writings of a martyr who serves as a living testimony of the Christian faith to other times. From this insight, the object of this study is Bonhoeffer's contribution to the act of speaking of Jesus today, meaning that time of World War II and the present day. This pastor's biography aggregates productions that emphasize Christ as the center. In this north, the main objective is to present Bonhoefferian thinking about Christology, the new theology, and the majority of the world. The specifics objetives are to show contexts of Bonhoeffer's life and work; demonstrate the characteristics of Christology and aspects of Christianity; understand his theology and the idea of adulthood and highlight the importance of his recognized legacy in the world. The justification comes from the interest of continuing what was studied during the theology course made by the researcher and of adding knowledge to the first formation in the area of medicine, which makes it possible to receive the Master of Religious Studies. The methodology is a qualitative bibliographic research, whose works in English were translated by the researcher, having as authors Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1966; 2009), James W. Woelfel (1970), Ralf K. Wüstenberg (1998), Wayne Whitson Floyd (Wayne Whitson Floyd Jr. (1999), Ernst Feil (2007), Sabine Dramm (2007), Larry L. Rasmussen (2009), Haynes and Hale (2009), Eberhard Bethge (2010), John W. de Gruchy (2010), Eduardo Delás Segura (2011), Michael P. DeJonge (2012). These are the main theorists that underlie the discussions, where the main question is what does it mean to speak of Jesus Christ today? This is the question that emerges in Bonhoeffer's speeches recorded at different times in his productions. The work is divided into three chapters, by which the importance of this research is evidenced. The thought of this martyr is revealed in the writings that recorded how he lived, highlighting the most difficult phases that have made him a witness to the Christian faith in all times.

Near the end of 1945, just a few weeks before his execution, Dietrich Bonhoeffer laid his thoughts to illegal scraps of paper in what eventually became part of the posthumous collection of writings entitled Letters and Papers from Prison. Bonhoeffer believed that the citizens of Germany had been “made stupid” by the smothering social atmosphere and pageantry of the Nazis. Unable to make sense of their realities, too many people were unable to recognize the horrors they were complicit in. Fortunately, “stupidity” is not all powerful and recent experiments in cognitive science seem to show that developing efficient accuracy in the connection between our thoughts, beliefs, and reality is not impossible, but takes a lot more time, practice, and discipline than our common assumptions would have us believe. Furthermore, there are few better places than the social constructed space of a church context capable of providing the support and encouragement needed to burn away the fog of stupor resulting from propagandistic efforts. Bonhoeffer believed “only an act of liberation not instruction, can overcome stupidity,” and that this internal cognitive liberation could only proceed via external liberation. A liberation possible only by living a “responsible life before God,” self-sacrificing, and devoted to radically serving and loving one’s neighbor. In light of this, I make the claim that it is an ethical imperative for those declaring devotion to God to do their best to provide and cultivate space for the possibility of a liberation from “stupidity.”

1. Definition von Gemeinwesendiakonie
2. Geschichte der Gemeinwesendiakonie
3. Wozu eine theologische Begründung der Gemeinwesendiakonie?
4. Dogmatische Begründungen der Gemeinwesendiakonie
5. Theologisch-ethische Begründungen der Gemeinwesendiakonie
6. Praktisch-theologische Begründungen der Gemeinwesendiakonie

Reggie Williams provides a vivid primer on the christologies of key African American writers in the Harlem Renaissance as well as portraying the social conditions that surround the movement. The book extends their protest by drawing stark lines between black and white Christs, sustaining the subtitle’s ethic of resistance if not probing more deeply into Bonhoeffer’s critique of an enduring rift.

"In a book of intriguing title, which ensued from a doctoral disertation, Brant M. Himes connects life and thinking of two Christian theologians about discipleship. What does a Dutch Calvinist, founder of a university and a political party, pastor, journalist, and prime minister (Abraham Kuyper) have in common with a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, spy, and a co-c onspirator on Hitler’s life (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)? Apart from the obvious answer that both were Christians, they shared a rich theological and practical commitment to following Jesus Christ in discipleship that did not stop at their personal or even ecclesial lives but continued to influence the world. Indeed, both were 'worldly' Christians, not in terms of their engagement with immorality and sin as Christians most commonly use this term, but in terms of their commitment to the well-being of the world."

In Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings, Martin Luther is ubiquitous. Too often, however, Bonhoeffer's Lutheranism has been set aside with much less argumentative work than is appropriate in light of his sustained engagement with Luther. As a result, Luther remains a largely untouched hermeneutic key in Bonhoeffer interpretation. In Bonhoeffer's Reception of Luther, Michael P. DeJonge presents Bonhoeffer's Lutheran theology of justification focused on the interpersonal presence of Christ in word, sacrament, and church. The bridge between this theology and Bonhoeffer's ethical-political reflections is his two-kingdoms thinking. Arguing that the widespread failure to connect Bonhoeffer with the Lutheran two-kingdoms tradition has presented a serious obstacle in interpretation, DeJonge shows how this tradition informs Bonhoeffer's reflections on war and peace, as well as his understanding of resistance to political authority. In all of this, DeJonge argues that an appreciation of Luther's ubiquity in Bonhoeffer's corpus sheds light on his thinking, lends it coherence, and makes sense of otherwise difficult interpretive problems. What might otherwise appear as disparate, even contradictory moments or themes in Bonhoeffer's theology can often be read in terms of a consistent commitment to a basic Lutheran theological framework deployed according to dramatically changing circumstances.

Table of Contents
0. Introduction: An Argument for Bonhoeffer Interpretation
-Taking Luther’s Ubiquity Seriously
-What is ‘Lutheran’? Issues of Definition and Method
-Arguing for the Lutheran Character of Bonhoeffer’s Thinking

1. On the Way toward Christocentrism
--Karl Holl: Luther’s Religion of Conscience
--Christ or the Conscience?
--Conscience against Conscience
--Meager Christology
--Justification as the Unconditional, Effective Word of Christ’s Personal Presence as the Church

2. Christology in Conversation with Barth and the Lutheran Tradition
-Once more, Barth and Bonhoeffer on whether the Finite is Capable of the Infinite
-The History and Pre-History of the (in)capax Phrases
---This Man Is God
---This Is My Body
---The Finite is Capable of the Infinite
-Barth’s Rejection of the capax and the Majestic Genus
---The Finite is Not Capable of the Infinite
---The Common Actualization of Divine and Human Essences in Christ
-“The is may not be interpreted any further”: Bonhoeffer’s Christology

3. Caricatures of the Two Kingdoms
-Denials of Bonhoeffer’s Two-Kingdoms Thinking
-From Luther’s Two Kingdoms to the Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms
---The Two Kingdoms in Luther’s Theology
---Church and State from a Lutheran Confessional Perspective
---Church and State in Confessional Comparison
---The Twentieth-Century Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms
---Troeltsch and the Niebuhrs

4. The Twofold Form of Christ: Bonhoeffer’s Two-Kingdoms Thinking
-Early Two-Kingdoms Thinking
---“The Nature of the Church”
---“Lectures on Christology”
---“Thy Kingdom Come!”
---“The Church and the Jewish Question”
-The Two Kingdoms in Discipleship
-Late Two-Kingdoms Thinking
---“Protestantism without Reformation”
---“Heritage and Decay”
---Green, Rasmussen, Hauerwas
---“Ultimate and Penultimate Things”

5. Anabaptists and Peace
-Bonhoeffer’s Non-Commitment to Nonviolence
-The Doubly Curious Association of Bonhoeffer with Anabaptism through Yoder
---Yoder on Bonhoeffer
---Bonhoeffer on Anabaptists
-Bonhoeffer on Peace
--Peace and Preservation
--Orders of Preservation
--The Sermon on the Mount as Concrete Commandment
-Peace in Bonhoeffer and Anabaptists
-Interpreting Bonhoeffer on Peace
-Ecumenical Lutheranism and Lutheran Ecumenism

6. Lutheran Resistance Resources
-Luther to Hitler
-Lutheran Subservience and Bonhoeffer’s Resistance
-Luther on Resistance to Authority
-The Interims, Flacius, and the Magdeburg Confession
-Formula of Concord X
-Bonhoeffer and Lutheran Resistance Resources

7. Struggle and Resistance
-Resistance through the Confession of the Ecumenical Church
---Status confessionis
---Threats to the Gospel from outside: The State that Disregards its Mandate
---Threats to the Gospel from Inside: Heretical Legalism
---Confession, ‘the Jews,’ and Race
-Resistance through the Suffering Obedience of the Discipleship Community
---The Second Battle of the Church Struggle
---Cheap and Costly Grace
---Justification
-Resistance through the Responsible Action of the Individual
---Between Compromise and Radicalism
---Active Resistance
-Conclusion: A Lutheran Theology in Accord with Reality

Partiendo del principio protestante del "sacerdocio de todos los creyentes", que propuso Lutero , se plantean las implicaciones teológicas y eclesiales de este "sacerdocio universal", como la confesión de la "sanctorum communio". Se hace una intersección con la salud mental, en cuanto la comunidad cristiana responde, desde una ética del dolor, a las experiencias de sufrimiento psíquico. Se plantean las miradas de comprensión de dicho sufrimiento desde la psicopatología y los abordajes psicoterapéuticos, así como se plantean las formas de intervención desde las comunidades de fe para el crecimiento y la curación.

The unpublished seminar paper seeks an interpretation of Bonhoeffer's thought on the basis of the assumption that for him Christian theory and praxis formed a unity. It therefore takes as its starting point his book Discipleship (Nachfolge) and argues that 'Nachfolge' is a very helpful concept to grasp the unity of Bonhoeffer's life and thought.

Nonviolent resistance is a term we least hear in today’s society. However, the world has witnessed two great martyrs of nonviolent resistance. These are Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Mahatma Gandhi. The two advocates of nonviolence and non-resistance engaged themselves in their lifetime to resist oppression without any resort to violence. To Bonhoeffer, a call to follow Christ is a call to die. His ransom work The Cost of Discipleship continues to influence ethical discussion and Christian lifestyle. Gandhi, known as the champion of nonviolence, saw non-violence as a soul-force or moral response to an unjust government; a principle he stood for in all of his entire life and died for it. These two moral idealists are models of transformational ethics who remain as great martyrs of the modern era. This paper examines the major theories of these two champions of nonviolence and how their values influenced political liberations in both India and South Africa.

Se Deus é todo poderoso, onisciente e todo bom, por que ele permite a existência do mal? Se não vem dele, então de onde vem? O problema do mal tem sido o principal empecilho para a crença de diversas pessoas, no decorrer da história, em alguma divindade. Contudo, desde a Primeira Grande Guerra, a pergunta não é mais essa. A derradeira questão, agora, é a respeito do mal radical: como pode um homem capaz de atrocidades como Auschiwitz dividir a mesma natureza do homem que condena Auschiwitz? Se a resposta ao problema de Epicuro é uma teodiceia, então a resposta ao problema da contemporaneidade é uma antropodiceia, pois tira Deus do julgamento e coloca a humanidade no lugar de júri, juiz e ré.

Nesse artigo, procuraremos, primeiro, estabelecer um breve panorama do surgimento da antropodiceia nos idos da Segunda Grande Guerra e no seu desenvolvimento que, conforme compreendemos, alcançou seu ápice teórico na teologia radical do pósguerra. Após esse panorama, tentaremos encontrar esboços de uma resposta da obra de J.R.R. Tolkien, com um foco específico em O Senhor dos Anéis.

The contribution of Bonhoeffer’s work to theology cannot be considered without attending to the social ontology that he introduces in his early writings and later performs in his pastoral and ecclesial work. Reexamining the structure and development of Bonhoeffer’s social ontology from Sanctorum Communio to Life Together provides the basis to identify a Bonhoefferian approach to social analysis, which complements two prominent approaches in theology and ethics that reflect Stanley Hauerwas’s and Pierre Bourdieu’s influence. A Bonhoefferian approach incorporates the insights of each approach and also addresses their intrinsic limitations. The life together envisaged by Bonhoeffer describes and performs an approach to social analysis that attends to the structure of community, the transformation of organization, the priority of ecclesial relations, and the practices that comprise the condition for possibility for encounter under the Word.

At the Berlin Sports Stadium in 1933, in front of 20,000 supporters, the cross was denounced as 'a ridiculous debilitating remnant of Judaism, unacceptable to National Socialists.'  Nazis believed that it was un-aryan to let Jesus take our sins on the cross.  Bonhoeffer responded by forming the Confessing Church movement which rejected racism and hatred of others. The Confessing Church started five seminaries/centres for training future pastors. Many Confessing Churches were firebombed by gangs of Hitler Youth.  On December 1935, the Nazis declared the Confessing Church to be illegal.

We tend to view the narrative of a church and its involvement in mission as describing
predominately either a social phenomenon or a “divine image.” To do so, however,
leaves us with a single-dimensional narrative. Under the term Sanctorum Communio,
Bonhoeffer developed an ecclesiology that blends these two narratives into a
single, multidimensional entity. Using Bonhoeffer’s perspective, I retell the history
of Golongane Wong Kristen kang Mardika, Sadrach’s Javanese nineteenth-century
community, not merely as a historical community or a divine “product,” but as a
liberatio communio. This ecclesiological identity involves the transformation from a
peccatorum communio to a sanctorum communio

In this paper the author contends that the normative response to state sanctioned violence is Christian pacifism. This is not a passive type of existence but a call to enter into the transnational, and global community seeing residents of all countries as brothers and sisters in Christ. Christian Pacifism therefore sees peace as a gift already given to us, and that we bear the burden of bringing that to a world wedded to nationalism by showing the shared humanity of us all. Therefore in living out the gift of peace we enter the world's conflict seeking to show resolution in the midst of tragedy.

The Methodist theologian Christopher Morse (1935-), Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair in Theology and Ethics at Union Seminary in New York, applies a particular methodological framework in his work of systematic theology Not Every Spirit: A Dogmatics of Christian Disbelief.  In this text, he explores Christian doctrines through what he calls ‘disbeliefs’. What is meant by this is summed up in the very first line of his text: ‘To believe in God is not to believe everything’ . With this he means that by making particular statements about what one believes, there are implicit statements which are rejected as not to be believed. It is this dialectical framework that he uses throughout his text, proposing for each doctrine certain ‘objections’, commonly statements that could be made about Christianity as proposed in some circles which Morse himself refuses to accept. In summary, he lists a number of ‘denials’ or ‘disbeliefs’ – statements or beliefs which are not to be affirmed by Christian doctrine. A useful summary of this approach can be found before his disbeliefs on the topic of Christology, a topic to which we will turn presently: ‘The following … [are] positions and claims that are refused credit and credence by the commonly held affirmations of Christian Faith’ . In this instance he precedes to list twenty-three such disbeliefs of Christology and provide an analysis accordingly.

We turn now to the German Lutheran theologian, anti-fascist resistor, and Bekennende Kirche  pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945). We will apply Morse’s method to Bonhoeffer’s 1933 Lecture on Christology, discussing three denials arising from the text. Bonhoeffer become an intriguing interlocutor for Morse, in part due to the mutual association between both theologians and Union Seminary. Bonhoeffer spent a quizzical year at Union Seminary in 1930 , and as previously stated, Morse holds the Bonhoeffer Chairship at Union.

Bonhoeffer’s life came to an end in 1945. He had worked for the Nazi intelligence agency and used his position as a platform to aid the resistance.  Ultimately, he was implicated in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, and spent eighteen months in prisons and concentration camps from Buchenwald and eventually to Flossenbürg.  In a cruel irony, he was hung only weeks before the liberation of Flossenbürg by allied forces and the end of the war.

The text to which we will be applying Morse’s method are notes of Bonhoeffer’s lectures on Christology given in Summer of 1933. It was in this year that the Nazi party rose to power in Germany and set about reorganising the German Evangelical Church in line with Nazi ideals, the Deutsche Christen  movement. The Confessing Church came to being in opposition to this movement in the following year with the Barmer Theologische Erklärung  written to oppose the Nazification of the established church.  It is amidst this context that Bonhoeffer delivered his lectures. He has much to say on the matter of Christology – it is for him the centre of all knowledge  – so we will concentrate on only a small amount of the much that could be said. The following three ‘denials’ emerge from the text and will be engaged in the following paragraphs. Firstly that ‘Christ’s claim to be the Word of God is a just claim’ ; secondly that Christ is not truly present in the here and now ; and finally, that Christ’s humiliation is in opposition to his exaltation.