Abstract
Ecumenical, Academic and Pastoral Work: 1931–1932, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works in English, Volume 11
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012. 576 pp. $60.00
With the release of this volume, the 16-volume set of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works in English neared completion; at the time of its publication, only one volume remained. This particular collection, divided into three sections of correspondence, lectures, and sermons, chronicles June 1931 through October 1932 and follows Bonhoeffer’s return to Germany after a year of study at Union Theological Seminary in New York. With his student days fully behind him, this period marks the beginning of Bonhoeffer’s coming of age as a public theologian and pastoral leader. Here we see Bonhoeffer’s turn from “phraseology to reality” as he seeks to integrate his theology into his ecumenical, pastoral, and academic work. This volume offers a picture of a young man of deep Christian conviction living amid the turbulent final months of the Weimar Republic as society was unraveling under the pressure of radicalized political forces and deteriorating economic conditions.
Bonhoeffer’s first official ecumenical assignment came as a member of the German youth delegation to the World Alliance annual conference held in Cambridge in September 1931. Letters and reports from this and subsequent conferences provide us with building blocks for Bonhoeffer’s ecumenical vision, one that was being forged amid the ever-growing nationalistic völkisch ideology in Germany. Only 25 years old at the time, Bonhoeffer was becoming an outspoken critic of this nationalistic ideology and its proponents, many of whom were his theological elders and teachers. The documentation of this foray into dangerous waters provides insight into the theological basis for much of Bonhoeffer’s later prophetic convictions. Also included is Bonhoeffer’s correspondence recounting his first meeting with his theological hero Karl Barth. While we see an emerging identity and independence in Bonhoeffer’s theological and ethical thought, these letters also attest to the ongoing influence of Barth upon the young theologian.
During this time Bonhoeffer was also growing into his new role as pastor. Ordained in November 1931, his work with 50 confirmation students from Zion Church in a working-class neighborhood of Berlin was especially significant. We find several references to this work through letters that reveal Bonhoeffer’s pastoral heart. As he wrote to one friend: “It is unfair to talk to them all the time about love of your neighbor and do nothing” (73). Bonhoeffer dedicated a great deal of time and energy tending to the basic needs of his students. He moved into their neighborhood, hosted the confirmands at his family’s retreat home, and struggled deeply in recognizing the social and economic conditions faced by his students and their families. Included in this volume are 14 sermons and meditations that capture the passion and intensity of Bonhoeffer’s theological convictions. Christ remains central, whether in his emphasis upon the cross or in the incarnational claim of God’s presence meeting us in the face of the neighbor. His sermon for Memorial Day 1932 in Germany proclaims that “God’s way in the world leads onto the cross and through the cross to life” (426). In another sermon, he describes to his confirmands “that God himself became our brother in Christ, so that behind every brother we see him again” (432).
Finally, this volume includes lecture notes from Berlin University. These materials are helpful in clarifying Bonhoeffer’s thought on the nature of the church as well as his question concerning the concrete form of God’s commandment, a theme to which he would return in Ethics. This work took on flesh and blood in Bonhoeffer’s ecumenical work and his repeated call to peace and disarmament. While he was quick to point out the naïve idealism and lack of theological rigor among British and American ecumenical partners, Bonhoeffer was equally adamant in voicing his strong opposition to the growing nationalist sentiment within Germany that vehemently opposed ecumenical relations.
Characteristic of previous volumes in this collection, this volume presents an exceptionally high quality of work with detailed annotations providing insightful historical context, helpful cross-references, and a wealth of bibliographic material. Both the introduction to the English edition and the afterword translated from the German edition provide a helpful overview and navigational tool. While the highly detailed nature and sheer amount of materials, not to mention the book’s cost, may overwhelm the casual inquirer, this collection will be of great value to scholars and avid students of Bonhoeffer, particularly those interested in charting the development of his ecclesiology and the foundational work for his Ethics.