Glimpses #184: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Discipleship

magine living in Germany after World War I. Your once powerful country is defeated by its enemies and humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles. Hunger and poverty surround you. What little money your family has is worth less every day. Some of your friends live in the street because they can’t afford to pay the rent, and you wonder if your family will be next. Things continue to get worse and the government seems unable to stop the downward spiral.

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A New Hope Emerges
Suddenly, a man enters the political arena and promises to change everything. You are skeptical at first, but soon change your mind. Poverty and hunger begin to ease as more food and jobs are available. Germans can once again hold their heads high and be proud of their country and their heritage. Patriotism runs high and Germans can once again unite for a common goal--the good of their country. The man who brings all this about is Adolph Hitler.

However, Hitler's brand of prosperity comes at the cost of persecution and eventual death to those who oppose or disagree with him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of those people.

"What Happened to You in America?"
Dietrich was born in 1906. His father, Karl, was a leading psychiatrist and neurologist in Berlin. When Dietrich announced to his family at age fourteen that he wanted to become a theologian, they were somewhat dismayed. They had been hoping he would become either a doctor or a lawyer and viewed a career in the church to be beneath him. However, their protests did nothing to shake his resolve, and his family eventually accepted his choice. In 1930, twenty-four year old Dietrich left Germany to study in America. He spent a year at Union Theological Seminary in New York and later came to view this year as a turning point in his life. In America, God became real to him as never before. He saw the sufferings of the poor as they struggled to survive the Great Depression. He saw the unfairness of racism that his black friends in Harlem had to endure. Ideas of freedom and equality for all were beginning to take shape in young Dietrich's thinking. That same year, his friend, Jean Lasserre, opened his eyes to the evils of war and convinced Dietrich to commit to world peace and pacifism. Dietrich believed that war was the opposite of the Gospel, and that Christians should find nonviolent ways to oppose evil. His commitment to pacifism and equality would be tested in the years to come.

When Dietrich returned to Germany after his year in America, his friends could immediately see he was different. "What is different? What happened in America?" they queried. His answer was simple. He told them, "I became a Christian in America." Truly knowing God had changed his life. His family, friends, and even his students could see the difference. He decided he would follow Christ and live out the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5), where Jesus told his followers "God blesses those who work for peace." To Dietrich, following Jesus meant working for peace and speaking up against war and violence.

God Among Us
As the power of the Nazi Party increased, persecution of Jews became common. The Civil Service Laws of 1933 stated that no one of Jewish descent could be a pastor, hold political office, or be a part of the German Christian church. The Nazis claimed that Jews had been cursed by God because they were responsible for killing Jesus. While some Germans thought this was absurd, many were looking for someone to blame for their country’s problems, and the Jews were a convenient scapegoat. Jewish businesses were boycotted and Jews were openly harassed on the streets of German cities.

The racial violence peaked on the eve of November 9, 1938. Kristalnacht (Crystal Night) will be forever remembered as a night of violence against the Jewish people. Their businesses were looted and destroyed, their synagogues burned, and "patriotic" Germans attacked any Jews they could find on the streets. The fact that the violence was condoned by the German government and the German church appalled Dietrich Bonhoeffer and others who agreed with him.
Bonhoeffer’s objections to the persecution of the Jewish people were rooted in his Christian beliefs. In his book The Cost of Discipleship, he wrote, "Christ continues to live in the lives of his disciples." He believed that "God wanders among us in human form, speaking to us in those who cross our paths." As violence against German Jews increased, Dietrich began to realize how much his beliefs differed from those of many of his countrymen. For him, Christianity meant community, and a Christianity that allowed and encouraged violence toward God's chosen people could not be true Christianity. Bonhoeffer condemned the church for standing by while Germany committed atrocities against innocent people who could not defend themselves.

How Much Does Grace Cost?
Bonhoeffer became increasingly convinced that the Christian church had been "captured" by the Nazis. The Nazi symbol of power, the swastika, was glorified in the church. Pastors were considered state officials and in 1938, they were required to swear allegiance to the Nazi party. Many who refused to take this oath were arrested.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer refused to take the oath because he believed Hitler was requiring allegiance from the church that only God had the right to claim. The Nazi party was turning the church into a political organization, but Bonhoeffer's objections were not merely political. The German Christian church of the Nazi Party made "cheap grace" available to all at no cost. They had watered down Christianity to such an extent that Bonhoeffer had to take a stand. He voiced his objections in his book The Cost of Discipleship. Grace was costly for God, and what has cost God much could not be cheap for his followers. Grace is costly because it cost Jesus his life, but it is grace because it gives us life.

As the Nazi Party continued to gain power and popularity with the church and the German people, Bonhoeffer realized that he could not remain in the German Christian church. Some of Germany's most important theologians, including Bonhoeffer and his friend Karl Barth, believed that God welcomed all races and people into the church. They formed what they called "The Confessing Church," drafting the Barman Confession, which opposed Nazi policies and ideas. However, as Hitler's power increased, so did the danger of disagreeing with him. Eventually, many members of the Confessing Church chose to remain silent on Hitler's treatment of Jews rather than risk the consequences of openly disagreeing with him. Bonhoeffer was both saddened and discouraged by the failure of his contemporaries to take a stand against the atrocities committed by the Nazi party.

The Abwehr and Operation 7
Because Bonhoeffer was a pacifist and did not believe in war or violence, he refused active service in the military when the Nazis instituted the draft. In an attempt to shield him from the wrath of the Nazi party, his brother-in-law Hans von Dohnanyi recruited him to work for the Abwehr, the German military intelligence agency. Dietrich soon discovered that many within the Abwehr were also part of the German resistance movement and were actively working against Hitler and plotting his assassination. He was greatly distressed, because while he hated what the Nazis were doing, he was committed to pacifism and did not believe that violence was the answer. How could he become involved in a plot to murder another human being?

He wrestled with this moral dilemma for many long days and nights. He believed murder was wrong, but Hitler was guilty of unspeakable atrocities against the Jews and others. When Bonhoeffer learned of the horror of the Nazi death camps, he came to the conclusion that he could no longer sit idly by while millions suffered because of Hitler's evil. He joined the resistance even though it went against his dearly held pacifist beliefs.

The Abwehr was responsible for "Operation 7," a plan to help a handful of Jews escape the clutches of the Gestapo. Hans von Dohnanyi gave the Operation 7 Jews passports and papers, which allowed them to pose as Abwehr agents and escape Germany. When the Gestapo learned that the German military was using Jews as agents, this made them suspicious. The Gestapo began an investigation into Operation 7, which eventually led to the arrest of Dohnanyi and Bonhoeffer.

He Chose Not to Escape
On April 5, 1943, Dietrich and several other members of his family were arrested and taken to the Tegel prison. During his time in Tegel, Dietrich had the opportunity to escape. However, his brother Klaus, brother-in-law Rudiger Schleicher, and close friend Eberhard Bethge had just been arrested. Dietrich chose not to escape, because he was afraid his family and friends would be punished if he tried. His fianceé, Maria, was allowed to visit him, and family and friends smuggled secret messages to him by hiding them in a book she brought for him. He continued to write while in prison, and his Letters and Papers from Prison would be published after his death. Dietrich also continued his pastoral ministry in prison, comforting and ministering to his fellow prisoners.

On April 5, 1945, Hitler gave orders that all conspirators were to be executed. Klaus Bonhoeffer and his brothers-in-law Hans von Dohnanyi and Rudiger Schleicher were condemned and executed in April 1945. Dietrich was also listed on Hitler's execution order. He was taken to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, where he was tried and hanged on April 9, 1945. He went to his death bravely and calmly. The camp doctor witnessing his execution said he had "hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God." Bonhoeffer knew that the most important thing in life was his life in Christ. His last known words were, "This is the end--for me, the beginning of life."

More Famous in Death than in Life
Although his writings were already read in some circles, after Dietrich’s death, many of his writings became internationally famous. His book The Cost of Discipleship has become a classic. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was truly a man who knew and lived the ultimate cost of his discipleship.

©2005 by Christian History Institute, Box 540, Worcester, PA 19490.
Tel.: 610-584-3500, Fax: 610-584-6643, E-mail: glimpses@chinstitute.org,
Web: http://www.chinstitute.org. Prepared by Tracey L. Craig with Ken Curtis, Ph.D., Dawn Moore, Ann T. Snyder, and Beth Jacobson. Photo credits: From the film Memories and Perspectives, courtesy of Vision Video.