Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer

Dear Friends,

I hope you have found Allen Creedy’s reflections over the last week moving; we keep him in our prayers.

Over the next week we are going to be exploring, with John Matthews a retired Baptist minister and member of Wellingborough URC, some ideas from Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Bonhoeffer (4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor,  theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church.   The Confessing Church opposed the Nazi take over of the German Church and was an irritant to the Nazi regime.  Bonhoeffer’s writings on Christianity’s role in the secular world have become widely influential; his 1937 book The Cost of Discipleship is described as a modern classic. 

Apart from his theological writings, Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, including vocal opposition to Adolf Hitler’s euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews.  He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel Prison for 1½ years. Later, he was transferred to Flossenbürg concentration camp.
Bonhoeffer was accused of being associated with the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler and was tried along with other accused plotters, including former members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office). He was hanged on 9 April 1945 during the collapse of the Nazi regime.

As we dip into some of Bonhoeffer’s ideas this week, guided by John Matthews, I hope we find them stimulating and useful for our own Christian discipleship.

With every good wish

Andy

The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship