I have been reading the new biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, (which I am thoroughly enjoying and highly recommend), and there are a number of quotes by Bonhoeffer that are simply too good not to share.These first few are just to give you a taste of his theology (and his mind):
Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.Reflections on his first trip to America (1930-1931):
Do not try to make the Bible relevant. Its relevance is axiomatic....Do not defend God's Word, but testify to it.
In New York they preach virtually everything, only one thing is not addressed, or is addressed so rarely that I have as yet been unable to hear it, namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the cross, sin and forgiveness, death and life.From a letter to Reinhold Niebuhr in 1939 (on why he decided to leave the U.S. and go back to Germany):
The separation of whites from blacks in the southern states really does make a rather shameful impression....The way the southerners talk about the negroes is simply repugnant, and in this regard the pastors are no better than the others....It is a bit unnerving that in a country with so inordinately many slogans about brotherhood, peace, and so on, such things still continue completely uncorrected.
Christians in Germany will face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive, or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying our civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must choose, but I cannot make that choice in security.Just prior to his martyrdom (to a fellow prisoner):
This is the end. For me the beginning of life.
