Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

At both the individual and the communal level, Bonhoeffer’s theological work focused on the nature of Christian identity and practice. He championed a holistic vision of Christian life within the church community, a vision which he believed contrasted with the more individualistic approach that had developed in German Protestant theology.

At the individual level, German Protestant theology regarded faith in an increasingly atomized and spiritual way instead of emphasizing a more communal approach. Some Protestant theology emphasized the importance of believing certain doctrines about God and Christ, suggesting that one would experience salvation on that basis. Bonhoeffer argued that this theological approach left no necessary place for the church in Christian life, and that it failed to emphasize the practical action which he regarded as central to Jesus’s teachings on how to live. Bonhoeffer encouraged a vision of Christian spirituality which was rooted in the communal life of the church, stressing the importance of the practical and ethical sides of the gospel mandate. Christianity, he argued, was a life which called one to action rather than passivity—a principle which was exemplified in his own life and in the choices that led to his death: “[True Christianity] had everything to do with living one’s whole life in obedience to God’s call through action” (446).