Christian Influences On Bonhoeffer's Life

Living in Christian community is a necessity for the everyday life of a Christian. Without community, the Christian has no one else to “sharpen” them, no one else to understand the everyday struggle of living in the world, sharing the Gospel, but not partaking in the sinful ways of the world. In “Life Together”, Dietrich Bonhoeffer explores Christian community, and presents not only the benefits of Christian community, but also the toxins that can destroy the community. Living in Christian community brings incomparable joy and community in and through Jesus Christ, but can be easily lost due to humanistic ideals, or “dreams”.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer explains a variety of topics about the reformation of the church in his book on Life Together. Something that was very powerful for me while reading this great work is the power of silence for Bonhoeffer. He explains the importance of listening. The ability to be silent while a brother or sister of Christ is speaking is very powerful. Listening to God through people is something that I have been battling in church recently. Based on Bonhoeffer, Life Together, I have learned how important to listen to my brothers and sisters in Christ because it would be the same to listen to God.

The book starts when Dietrich was born he was born into a well-educated family and had 7 siblings. All his siblings were outstanding to him as they were very accomplished. Dietrich didn't want to do things that his siblings did he wanted to find something his own. He found music to his liking and his talent. Skip into the future and now he is going to a college in Berlin Germany. He became a minister and a pacifist. As times go on Hitler is growing in popularity and Dietrich has an idea for a new type of church.

This showing that the average African-American’s faith is what kept them strong and able to do whatever it takes in their struggle for freedom. However the sermon in a typical “Negro” church would also show just what kept them so strongly endowed in their religion.

Lohfink, Gerhard. Jesus and Community: The Social Dimension of Christian Faith. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984. Kindle.

Loving and worshiping God began to be more and more part of my daily thinking, motives, actions, and decisions.

These are the issue that the modern African American pastor must address currently. His/Her preaching must speak true, authentic words for the oppressed, the down-trodden, the deprived, the captives, the poor, the rich, the illiterate, as well as to the intellect. Presently, the hostile moment of worldliness is a belief that life is to be realized at any cost to self. Thus, here lies the Christian paradox: through the Gospel we have to see Jesus as a truth relevant to humanity’s need to rise higher. The Gospel is to be preached to all. It is a Gospel to save the humanity of African American people but the gospel is beneficial for all. Therefore, the African American preacher’s message must have within its content something more than that which causes the people to enter in a foot-patting, hand-clapping, highly emotional, ecstatic worldly experience, but also a content which serves to balance the life of God’s people on earth.

Now, at that time, I was only 12 years old, God had not endowed me with those gifts, but when I answered him no, he began to act differently towards me. It was from that interaction that I began to take notice of the different teachings in different denominations.

“The number of blacks who received religious instruction in antebellum white churches is significant because the church was the only institution other than the plantation which played a major role in acculturating the slave “(Blassingame, The Slave Community, p. 98). African Americans found their strength in the church, because they secretly met outside of the church in invisible churches to discuss freedom, liberty, and how god is judging against the slave-owners. The church offered a sanctuary against the harsh realities of the plantation and allowed them to connect with one another and gain

He was born to a physician, Karl Bonhoeffer, in Breslau, Prussia. It is important to note that he was a German (Funk & Wagnalls, 2016). While reading Life Together, it is evident Bonhoeffer had much knowledge in and passion for theology. This probably derived during his childhood. His mother, Paula, devoted herself to raising her eight children. She used this time to develop and instill a deep love for Christian values into her children (Liguš, 2015). He also developed his knowledge through his studies in theology at the University of Tubingen and the University of Berlin (Funk & Wagnalls, 2016). At the universities he spent much time analyzing Martin Luther’s theology. Most would say he had profound insight towards Luther’s theology (Liguš, 2015). At the young age of 21 he completed his doctoral thesis called, Communio Sanctorum. This was his first work that covered the Church and Christ existing as a community. His thesis allowed him to graduate from University of Berlin with honors in 1927 (p. 9). It would be obvious to say his thesis influenced his book Life Together. In 1928-1929 he became the assistant pastor for a German-speaking congregation in Barcelona, Spain. In the fall of 1931, after undergoing a further year of education at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, he was able to become a lecturer in theology in at the University of Berlin (Funk & Wagnalls,

After his first graduation, Edwards went on to continue his studies in theology and prepare for a life in ministry. Equally as successful with Edwards’s educational climb was his anointment in his pastoral call. Though he often questioned the sovereignty doctrine of God from an early age, his search for meaning and truth came about during his personal testimony of conversion when, at the age of seventeen he read 1 Timothy 1:17. It was then when he finally connected with the one and only true God that his life changed for the duration. It was this pivotal moment that marked his conversion and led to what would become the fervent, heart-felt preaching style that characterized his sermons and brought conviction to the hearts of the parishioners who heard him.

These three perceptions are distinctly different, but ultimately speak to the contextual nature of Black theology—rooting worship, adoration, and discipleship within the notion a (conscious) living G-d. The first perception explored is the image G-d adored through the lens of Sister Sweet and Mother Darling. At first glance, these women appear different in life style and theology—different churches, different abilities, and different approaches to discipleship. But upon further examination, one discovers the same paradigm at work. Both have lost children to AIDS. Both have committed themselves to a praxis centered theology to process their loss. Mother Darling is street missionary and Sister Sweet is a disabled woman confined to a wheel that feeds the birds and attends to the needs of the Little piece of Heaven Church. Both have found peace in their personalized work for the Lord. Their G-d is a “shelter in a time of storm.” The second perception is the image of G-d as seen through Deacon Zee. This G-d is one of salvation and complacence for Deacon Zee. The “White Jesus” he prayed to for his assistance in finding his copy of the Wall Street Journal—a nuanced symbol for prosperity. This G-d speaks to the corporate nature and element of

Bonhoeffer and King: Their legacies and Import for Christian Social Thought, ed. by W. Jenkins and J. M. McBride (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010)

When I was a sophmore, I went through a period of time where i stopped going to church as much as i had before. After a while i found myself questioning where i stood in my faith. I would always become angry quickly and shut everyone out, soon i realized that i needed to go back to where i started. That same night i fell to my knees in prayer asking the