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Philosophy and Ethics > Dietrich Bonhoeffer > Flashcards

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Flashcards

1
Q

What led to Bonhoeffer to study theology?

A
  • In 1918 his brother Walter was killed in action
  • Led him to study theology despite not being a Church going family
  • At age 13 he had a vision of how the church should be transformed
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2
Q

What was Bonhoeffers thinking at university like?

A
  • 1923 he studied at Tubingen Uni and moved to Berlin 1 year later
  • 1930 he completed his PHD in ‘act and being’ where he wanted the Church to challenge for Justice
  • Believed German society had misinterpreted Luthers teaching as disobeying state = disobeying God
  • Bonhoeffer had a more radical interpretation of Luther
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3
Q

How did Bonhoeffers thinking develop when he went to America?

A
  • Sep 1930 he went to NY where he worked with influential theologians
  • He was impressed by teaching of Christian social responsibility but thought they lacked faith in goodness of human nature
  • He was introduced to black churches, more vibrant and different to Lutherian
  • He concluded that Churches needed to develop relations despite geographical and racial tensions (PRE-HITLER HE WANTED REFORM)
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4
Q

When did Bonhoeffer give a radio announcement against Hitler?

A

1st Feb 1933 ‘The Younger Generations altered view of the concept of the Fuhrer’

  • He criticised the ‘leadership principle’ and its effects on the Church
  • Before he asserted that Hitler was a ‘misleader’ and the only authority was God he was cut off by the state
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5
Q

In what two ways was Bonhoeffer an enemy of the state after his radio announcement?

A

1) Became a member of the Confessing Church which was a group of clergy which rejected the notion of only Aryans could be members of the Church
2) He joined the resistance (widerstand) as he stayed n NY during Gestapo investigations

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6
Q

What did Bonhoeffer do to prevent serving in Hitler’s evil army?

A
  • June 1939 visited NY as a lecturer
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7
Q

Why did Bonhoeffer change his view on being a pacifist?

A
  • He realised that pacifism was secular and would not prepare Christianity for the Kingdom of God
  • This pacifism was a secular view and not a Christian one
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8
Q

Why did Bonhoeffer call secular pacifism a scandal?

A
  • It does not realise that Justice and Peace are not aspects of the world
  • Secular Pacifism could not take on evil that perpetuates lies and injustice
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9
Q

What was the ‘terrible alternative’? (Quote)

A
  • Choice to join the resistance was not intrinsically good, it was a terrible alternative in a world where all choices have bad consequences
    “I must live through this difficult period… with the Christian people of Germany” - Letter to Reinhold Niebuhr
  • 1940 joined counter intelligence section with Hans Dohnangi
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10
Q

What did Bonhoeffer seek to explain in his unfinished work ‘ethics’?

A
  • How Christian Ethics are different to Human Ethics
  • He was against ethics with ideologies as they are an extension of human ideas to justify their use of power on others
  • Christian ethics understands that humans are finite and sinful and no human decision can be absolutely right or wrong
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11
Q

What was Bonhoeffer’s Christian Ethics influenced by? (Quote Luther)

A
  • Existential theologian Søren Kierkegaard says we cannot do anything but act out of despair with faith and hope
    “Here I stand; I can do no other” - Luther
  • Killing Hitler was the only option for the Church despite it being wrong
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12
Q

What did Bonhoeffer believe about the duty to the state?

A
  • Agreed that it was duty to follow a government that imposes law on a sinful human
  • In practice however the state is too powerful and defines justice and allow policies for own self-gain
  • The state fails to be obedient to Gods will and the stare cannot represent Gods will and therefore the church must keep them in check
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13
Q

What are the two kingdoms ordained by God that a person must follow?

A
  • Spiritual kingdom of Christ governed by the Church

- Political kingdom of the world governed by the state

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14
Q

Quote Mark and Romans on obeying the state?

A

“Give to the emperor the things that are the emperors, and to God the things that are Gods” - Mark 12:17
“those authorities that exist have been instituted by God” - Romans 13:1

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15
Q

Bonhoeffer is concerned with obeying Gods will, what are his ideas on this?

A
  • The will of God is only clear ‘in the moment of action’ as you act out of faith and submit to Gods will
    “only clear in the moment of action” - No Rusty Swords
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16
Q

Why is Bonhoeffer critical of the autonomic school of thought?

A
  • He disagrees with the use of the love principle
  • If love is self-evident morality would be reduced to purely human and reduce God to a human idea
  • He believes Jesus’ teaching on inner law is only achieved through prayer, conscience and reflecting on Christ in a Christian Community
17
Q

What were Bonhoeffer’s ideas on leadership?

A
  • Both an idea in a community and specific to a person
  • Leadership itself goes beyond the leader, a higher responsibility to God, Society etc
  • Germany invented a new category of leader divorced from society, the group has decided to give up freedom in obedience to a tyrant
  • Believes it is impossible to give a rational basis for the “nature of a leader”
18
Q

How did Bonhoeffer justify civil disobedience from the Church?

A
  • He believes Christians have a duty to the state, not to create one but to act in accordance to Gods will
  • Germany had ‘reasonable people face unreasonable situations’ and the Church failed to act, this was wrong.
19
Q

What were Bonhoeffer’s thoughts on Tyrannicide?

A
  • May be a Christian duty as it re-establishes social order in a state of “suffering disobedience”
  • Killing Hitler is in no way ethical but we can only hope for forgiveness before God as we submit to another ‘terrible alternative’
  • In prison he wrote a ‘man who becomes a sinner in the process’ through the bold actions
20
Q

What did Bonhoeffer agree with Kant on?

A
  • Acting out of duty is best as you act with solidarity with human kind
  • The Church should interact with the religionless world and act as a moral, spiritual community with the support to live morally
21
Q

What was religionless Christianity for Bonhoeffer?

A
  • Western culture was a world come of age whereby ‘childish views’ of prayer and Christianity had now been replaced, leaving a ‘Western Void’
  • This void was a moral and spiritual vacuum in which new radical ideologies filled it, to avoid this Bonhoeffer believed in religionless Christianity
  • No Rusty Swords is a phrase for the outworn ethical attitudes of Christianity, this should be left behind and the Church should embrace the contemporary world
22
Q

What was the Confessing Church?

A
  • After 1934 Hitler issued the ‘Aryan Paragraph’ and led to Bonhoeffer and Niemoller to find a group of clergy who disagreed
  • Karl Barth issued the Barmen declaration where a states primary duty is to Christ and teaching in his accordance, not racial theory
  • The Confessing Church was to not become a national church as it should not have national, political and racial boundaries
23
Q

Why did Bonhoeffer become disillusioned with the Confessing Church?

A
  • They were becoming too defensive and less engaged with the world
  • Christ was involved with man and therefore the Church should be too
  • They failed to topple Hitler and therefore was not a church come of age
24
Q

What was the Religious Community at Finkenwalde?

A
  • 1935 USA Bonhoeffer set up a community for training ministers and pastors of the Confessing Church
  • This was closed in September 1937 following the Himmler Decree
  • Purpose was to develop practical Christian living as a community of disciples whilst practicing Christian virtue
25
Q

What were some key aspects of the Religious Community at Finkenwalde?

A
  • Discipline: exercise came with this in form of bike rides
  • Meditation: Develop discipline
  • Bible: Discussion, debate and lectures
  • Brotherhood: Together with love of Christ
  • Community: For everyone not just righteous cause no ones perfect
26
Q

What did Bonhoeffer preach as a result of the Religious Community?

A
  • To obey the will of God and to ignore issues of right and wrong
  • We should ask who is Christ for us today?
  • Christology, ethics and discipleship are inseparable
27
Q

What is Bonhoeffers view on Ethics as Action?

A
  • If Christianity was to mean anything it cannot be mere abstract thought
  • Jesus was an example of God having revelatory actions to spread the word of Christianity
  • If we do not act we would be passive recipients and no better than the Pharisees
28
Q

What does the story of Mary and Martha in the bible tell us about Ethics as Action?

A
  • In Luke’s gospel Martha acts but does not listen to Jesus and is not a doer of the law
  • Jesus wants us to be doers of the law
29
Q

What are the primary points of treating Ethics as Action?

A
  • Action is liberating
  • Action is a conscience process, e.g when Bonhoeffer chose the ‘terrible alternative when in America’
  • Conflict and Action, conflict is knowing good and evil whilst action is distinguishing between the two
  • Agape overcomes divinity

Philosophy and Ethics (35 decks)

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