not one but three

Oh my goodness.

I went to the library a few hours ago and check out not one but three books by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Not sure when I'm going to find the time to read them, but, as a grad student I do get to keep them for a ridiculously long time. So not all is lost. :) I then walked down to Boulevard Park and sat on a park bench overlooking the bay...oh my goodness. Do I really live here? Sometimes I can't believe I'm so blessed as to be able to live in a place like this. It's ridiculously beautiful. Anyway, back to Bonhoeffer.

First off, quick biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He lived in Germany in the first half of the 20th century. Trained as a pastor. When Hitler came to power, he was very much opposed to what he saw going on in Germany, particularly the way in which Hitler set himself up as an idol and the German Christian Church just went along with it. He was heavily involved with the Confessing Church (a church that protested Hitler and was persecuted as a result). He was involved in a secret seminary that was eventually discovered and shut down. He wrote a couple books ("Life Together" and "The Cost of Discipleship") during the mid-1930s. He went to the US at one point in 1939 and was encouraged to stay there and write instead of returning to a country where his very life would be endangered. The thing is, Bonhoeffer felt that the Christian is called to live in the world. That the calling of a Christian is to give up his very life for the sake of Christ. And so he returned on one of the last boats that went to Germany before the war. He became involved in a plot to overthrow Hitler, and in 1943 was arrested in connection with a failed assasination attempt. He spent the next few years in Tegel prison, writing extensively (published post-humously in "Letters and Papers from Prison). In late 1944 he was transferred from Tegel and was moved through various concentration camps, eventually being executed by order of Himmler in April of 1945.

I started reading "Life Together" (simply because it was his first book of the three I checked out). Wow, was I convicted, enlightened, ashamed, regretful, etc etc etc. I wish so much I had read this book a few years ago - it is possible that so much heartache could have been avoided. Then again, it's possible that I may not have understood what he was saying - some things can only be learned through hard experience.

He talks a lot about what it means to live in community with Christians, how it is a privilege that God gives us, but that we may not always have. Sometimes the fellowship of believers is only through the knowledge that we are not alone, even if we are in prison or exile. He then begins talking more in depth about what it means to be in community, arguing that Christian life together is only through the Spirit. There is a difference between human and spiritual love. Much of what we do in the name of "love" is really human love (for selfish motives). Many times we desire communion with other believers in order that we may have power over them (even if that means simply using them to gain love or support). It is only through Christ that we can love - we are called to love others for the sake of Christ.

You really need to read the book yourself. It's also crazy to read it knowing that this was years before Bonhoeffer was thrown in prison and executed. It was before he made the decision to join the plot on Hitler's life. It was before all of that, and reading this book knowing the places his radical committment to the teachings of Christ took him is powerful indeed. I'm excited to finish this one and read his other books. The third book I checked out from the library by him is "Ethics." It was not published until after his death because it was against the law - the manuscripts were actually buried to avoid detection. Obviously the Nazis weren't so crazy about what he was thinking/writing/teaching.

Anyway, I've probably avoided homework for long enough now - I actually need to get a significant amount of "actual" reading done tonight, and blogging about Dietrich Bonhoeffer isn't helping me accomplish that. No regrets, though. :)

[There is a very good possibility I'm way too attached to the theme I have going on in my recent blog titles.]