The Battle Over Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A recent film and Christian nationalists misinterpret his story.

Photo: Dietrich Bonhoeffer with confirmation candidates on March 21, 1932, in Friedrichsbrunn, Germany. Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R0211-316 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons.

The National Catholic Reporter  published an article I authored that explores how Christian nationalists and a recent movie have misused the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who stood up to Adolf Hitler and paid for it with his life.  Here is how the article begins:

The November release of a major motion picture on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer has reignited a long-simmering battle between those who seek to learn from Bonhoeffer’s life and those who seek to use it for their own purposes.

Members of the Bonhoeffer family have issued a statement expressing concern about the misappropriation of Bonhoeffer’s legacy to support Christian nationalism over the past 14 years.  In addition to their concerns about the historical drama film “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.,” they criticized conservative radio host and Bonhoeffer biographer Eric Metaxas, saying, “Never would [Bonhoeffer] have seen himself associated with far-right, violent movements such as Christian Nationalists and others who are trying to appropriate him today.  On the contrary, he would have strongly and loudly condemned these attitudes. . . .  Bonhoeffer fought narrow-mindedness, oppression, and exclusion throughout his life.”

. . .

The presidents of the International Bonhoeffer Society have also objected to Metaxas’ misuse of Bonhoeffer’s legacy, saying that Metaxas “has manipulated the Bonhoeffer story to support Christian Nationalism” with a portrayal that “glorifies violence and draws inappropriate analogies between our political system and that of Nazi Germany.”

So who was Bonhoeffer, and why do the people most dedicated to his legacy object so strongly to these attempts to reinterpret his story?

You can read the full article on NCR’s website: A biopic and misuse by Christian nationalists reignite battle for Bonhoeffer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer challenges us to live a life totally committed to Christ

I wrote the NCR article so that I could draw attention to who Dietrich Bonhoeffer is in our time, which I spell out in a longer article posted here on the Faith Explored website.  It explores Bonhoeffer’s teachings and life in much more detail.

Bonhoeffer challenges us to live our lives for others following Christ’s example of sacrificial love, which means identifying with the outcasts and the suffering and embracing Christ’s cross even in the tough choices we sometimes face in our lives.  What does it mean to live a life totally committed to Christ?  Consider how Bonhoeffer’s life answers that question: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Discipleship, Responsibility, Transformation.