Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Short PhD Edit)

Loebau, Germany-trekearth

Munich, Germany-trekearth

Miltenberg-Germany-trekearth

PhD work from Wales where I cited famous German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), who had some useful quotes for my work in regard to the problem of suffering.

Happy New Year

Holy Spirit

Lutheran Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1937)(1963) explains the Holy Spirit brings Christ to each and every member of the Church and Christ has a presence in the Church through the Holy Spirit.[1]  The Spirit creates fellowship,[2] and God lives through his people.[3]  This would be in agreement with traditional Christian and Reformed views.

Suffering and Compassion

He writes that suffering and rejection sum up the cross of Christ.[4]  This was part of God’s essential plan.[5]  God’s compassion for humanity suffering under the problem of evil is shown as God incarnate Jesus Christ, suffers for the sins of humankind as the crucified God.[6]  God is not uncaring as God the Son was placed within the problem of evil in order to overcome it.[7]  The non-empirical nature of the theological divine compassion concept,[8] would be met disagreeably by many atheists.[9]  They could argue that it would be difficult to show God has compassion for persons since he cannot be shown to be empirically doing anything for humanity.[10]  Bonhoeffer deduces that Christ transforms the mortal agony of his martyrs by granting them peace in his assured presence.[11]  This type of sacrifice, to Bonhoeffer, is how those who follow Christ overcome suffering as Christ did.[12]  He writes suffering, along with rejection ‘sum up the whole cross of Jesus’ as he died on the cross, Christ faced human rejection.[13] 

BONHOEFFER, DIETRICH (1931)(1996) Act and Being, Translated from the German Edition, Hans-Richard Reuter (ed.), English Edition, Wayne Whitson Floyd, Jr., (ed.), Translated by H. Martin Rumscheidt, Fortress Press, Minneapolis.

BONHOEFFER, DIETRICH (1937)(1963) The Cost of Discipleship, Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York.

FLEW, ANTONY (1955) ‘Divine Omnipotence and Human Freedom’, in Antony Flew and A. MacIntrye (eds.), New Essays in Philosophical Theology, London, SCM, in Paul Edwards and Arthur Pap (eds.), A Modern Introduction To Philosophy, New York, The Free Press.

FLEW, ANTONY (1955) ‘Theology and Falsification’, in Antony Flew and A. MacIntrye (eds.), New Essays in Philosophical Theology, London, SCM, in Paul Edwards and Arthur Pap (eds.), A Modern Introduction To Philosophy, New York, The Free Press.

FLEW, ANTONY (1983)(1996) ‘The Falsification Challenge’, in Antony Flew and A. MacIntrye (eds.), New Essays in Philosophical Theology, in Michael Peterson, William Hasker, Bruce Reichenbach, and David Basinger (eds.), Philosophy of Religion, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

FLEW, ANTONY, R.M. HARE, AND BASIL MITCHELL (1996) ‘The Debate on the Rationality of Religious Belief’, in L.P. Pojman (ed.), Philosophy, The Quest for Truth, New York, Wadsworth Publishing Company.

FLEW, ANTONY AND A.MACINTRYE (1999) ‘Philosophy of Religion’, in Alan Richardson and John Bowden (eds.), A New Dictionary of Christian Theology, Kent, SCM Press Ltd.

MOLTMANN, JÜRGEN (1993) The Crucified God, Minneapolis, Fortress Press.

MOLTMANN, JÜRGEN (1999) ‘Perseverance’, in Alan Richardson and John Bowden (eds.), New Dictionary of Christian Theology, Kent, SCM Press Ltd.

VAN DER VEN, JOHANNES (1993) Practical Theology, Translated by Barbara Schultz, AC Kampen, Netherlands, Kok Pharos Publishing House.

VAN DER VEN, JOHANNES (1998) God Reinvented?, Leiden, Brill.

VAN DER VEN, JOHANNES (2005) ‘Theodicy Items and Scheme’, in a personal email from Johannes van der Ven, Nijmegen, Radboud University, Nijmegen.

VAN DER VEN, JOHANNES (2006a) ‘Dates of Nijmegen authors’, in a personal email from Johannes van der Ven, Nijmegen, Radboud University, Nijmegen.

VAN DER VEN, JOHANNES (2006b) ‘Symbols versus Models’, in a personal email from Johannes van der Ven, Nijmegen, Radboud University, Nijmegen.

VAN DER VEN, JOHANNES, PAUL VERMEER, AND ERIC VOSSEN (1996) ‘Learning Theodicy’, in Journal of Empirical Theology, Volume 9, pp. 67-85. Kampen, The Netherlands, Journal of Empirical Theology.

VAN DER VEN, JOHANNES AND ERIC VOSSEN (1996) Suffering: Why for God’s Sake? Grand Rapids, Eerdmans. 

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[1] Bonhoeffer (1937)(1963: 272).

[2] Bonhoeffer (1937)(1963: 272).

[3] Bonhoeffer (1937)(1963: 272).

[4] Bonhoeffer (1937)(1963: 96).

[5] Bonhoeffer (1937)(1963: 96).

[6] Moltmann (1993: 200-274).  Bonhoeffer (1937)(1963: 96).

[7] Moltmann (1993: 200-274).  Bonhoeffer (1937)(1963: 96).

[8] van der Ven (1993: 174).

[9] Flew (1983)(1996: 92).

[10] Flew (1983)(1996: 92).

[11] Bonhoeffer (1937)(1963: 101).

[12] Bonhoeffer (1937)(1963: 101).

[13] Bonhoeffer (1937)(1963: 96).