Some thoughts from my reading of Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Charles Marsh.

There had been some Americans who had tried to get Bonhoeffer out of Germany before it was too late for him personally. They arranged for him to come to New York again and teach at Union Seminary.

Bonhoeffer came but almost immediately regretted it. His country was in turmoil, the Confessing Church hadn’t survived, and the crisis of Christianity in his homeland was very real. He quickly made arrangements to return to Germany. It was the turning point in his brief life.

As he prayed and discerned his place in all that was going on, he evaluated what the choices were for German Christians:

“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 the nation and thereby destroying our nation,” he had finally explained in a letter to Niebuhr. “I know which of these alternatives I must choose, but I cannot make that choice in security… I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America.” (Strange Glory, p. 284)

He decided to join a struggle that would cost him his life. He would pray for the defeat of his country. He made the free decision to suffer willingly in his own life.

And this is the mystery and complication of Bonhoeffer’s life. We want nice and neat categories for people. We want Bonhoeffer to be a hero… a martyr… so we have to somehow categorize his willingness to seemingly abandon (in our limited view) his commitment to pacifism to do “the right thing.”

Or… we want to write off Bonhoeffer and his commitment to Christ because he abandoned a commitment (in our limited view) to pacifism. We are very much into dualistic thinking and we need Bonhoeffer in one of those two places. Neatly. Square peg. Square hole.

But here is what we really need at this time in American Christianity: complicated commitment.

Bonhoeffer’s deepest commitment was to Christ. This is the conclusion I come to not from a biography alone, but by reading some of his work, especially The Cost of Discipleship.

The how of that commitment is the complicated mess, depending on the time in which you live! Bonhoeffer was willing to take on that mess. He wasn’t going to bow his knee to Hitler like most of the state German church had done, and, unfortunately, most of the Confessing Church leaders had done. That wasn’t an option for him.

Yet, to actively enter into a group that will actively find ways to eliminate Hitler in hopes of restoring a sense of responsible government in German was treason. He knew the consequences. In his view, according to Marsh and most other biographers (and it can be seen in his writings), he knew it was sin. He was willing to violate God’s commandment not to kill.

Complicated commitment is a necessary part of following Christ. It doesn’t wrap up neatly for any of us. We want simple answer. We want either/or situations.

Bonhoeffer knew he didn’t have that luxury. And probably, he didn’t WANT that luxury.

It is possible that in Bonhoeffer’s thinking was taking on Martin Luther’s admonition to “sin boldly.” That admonition was not to give in to wanton sin, but to understand that there were times difficult decisions were to be made, and if it was “sin,” then go for it and rely on the righteousness and grace of Jesus to be on the other side of the mess.

“Bonhoeffer did not try to resolve the paradox by assuming moral innocence but accepted the paradox by incurring the guilt born out responsible action.” (p. 346)

With Bonhoeffer, Gandhi, and MLK, Jr., here is the harsh reality we need to face: you take action that will have consequences, and you bear the consequences.

“Activists” today sometimes want to take bold action and then skate on the consequences. They call themselves “persecuted” for being in jail. It misses the point of the action!

Bonhoeffer had to walk through a massive quagmire of philosophical, theological, and practical structure to come to a place where he knew the action he would take and would thus “sign his own death warrant.”

Bonhoeffer wouldn’t bow to nationalism. He had to pray for Germany’s defeat. Then, he felt he needed to act to aid in that defeat. This involved surrender. His hope: the grace of the Lord would be waiting on the other side of it all.

This is complicated commitment to Christ. This is discipleship.