Dietrich Bonhoeffer : Witness to Jesus Christ

by De Gruchy, John

• ISBN13: 9780800634049
• ISBN10: 0800634047
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-08-01
• Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Pub

Summary

Bonhoeffer's theological brilliance, committed discipleship, ecumenical insight and courageous participation in the struggle against Nazism have profoundly shaped contemporary Christian understanding and action. Although his early death at the hands of the Gestapo prevented him from providing us with a full and systematic theology, his writings are remarkably extensive and have become increasingly influential. This volume concentrates on the key texts and ideas in Bonhoeffer's thought. It presents the essential Bonhoeffer for students and the general reader. John de Gruchy's introductory essay and notes on the selected texts set Bonhoeffer in his historical context, chart the development of his thought and indicate the significance of his theology in the development of Christian theology as a whole. Substantial selections from Bonhoeffer's work illustrate key themes:His theological foundations Christology and reality Confessing Christ concretely The life of free responsibility Christ in a world come of age

Table of Contents

Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Editor's Note
Introduction: The Development of Bonhoeffer's Theology	p. 1
Theological Foundations	p. 43
Sanctorum Communio	p. 43
Toward a definition of social philosophy and sociology	p. 44
The Christian concept of the person and the concepts of social basic-relations	p. 44
The primal state and the problem of community	p. 49
Sin and the broken community	p. 60
Sanctorum Communio	p. 64
Act and Being	p. 72
Revelation in terms of the act	p. 73
The church as a unity of act and being	p. 78
The theology of crisis and its attitude toward philosophy and science	p. 85
Christology and Reality	p. 98
A theological basis for the world alliance	p. 98
The image of God on earth	p. 110
Christology	p. 115
Confessing Christ Concretely	p. 124
The church and the Jewish question	p. 124
The church and the peoples of the world	p. 131
The Confessing Church and the ecumenical movement	p. 134
The question of the boundaries of the church and church union	p. 148
The cost of discipleship	p. 156
Life together	p. 178
The presentation of New Testament texts	p. 188
Protestantism without Reformation	p. 195
Letter to the Finkenwalde brethren, Christmas 1939	p. 216
The Life of Free Responsibility	p. 221
Ethics	p. 221
Ethics as formation	p. 222
Christ, reality and good	p. 233
History and good	p. 241
After ten years	p. 255
Christ in a World Come of Age	p. 269
Unconscious Christianity	p. 269
Outline for a book	p. 272
Letters from prison	p. 276
Thoughts on the day of baptism of Dietrich Bethge	p. 294
Selected Bibliography	p. 298
Notes to the introduction	p. 302
Index of names	p. 304
Index of places and subjects	p. 306
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