Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Bonhoeffer and Hildebrandt made their way to the ecumenical conference at Fanø, Denmark, but because of the tensions, Hildebrandt would leave before the Reichskirche delegation arrived. The autocracy and heresy of the Reichskirche was a growing concern, not only to the Confessing Church, but increasingly to other churches outside Germany, especially now that the German state church had declared that all pastors swear an oath of fealty to Adolf Hitler.

Bonhoeffer’s main role at the conference was as a speaker and leader of the youth conference, and he passed on to the young people a resounding message of the necessity of listening for God’s voice through the words of scripture. The youth conference led the way in passing resolutions which said that God’s commandments were always higher than the claims of the state and which condemned Christian support for war—politically inflammatory ideas at the time. Bonhoeffer also made a famous “Peace Speech” to the conference assembly, asserting an idea that ran directly against the pseudo-theology of Hitler’s church: “Peace means giving oneself completely to God’s commandment […] in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes” (241).