Dietrich Bonhoeffer
German · 1906–1945
German Lutheran pastor and theologian executed by the Nazis for his role in the resistance, whose prison writings explored the cost of authentic faith, the duty of the church to resist injustice, and the meaning of discipleship in the face of radical evil.
Wikipedia ↗“Billige Gnade ist Predigt der Vergebung ohne Buße, ist Taufe ohne Gemeindezucht, ist Abendmahl ohne Sündenbekenntnis. Billige Gnade ist Gnade ohne Nachfolge, Gnade ohne Kreuz.”
German
“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross.”
“Wenn Christus einen Menschen ruft, heißt er ihn kommen und sterben.”
German
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples — to leave home and livelihood at his call. Or it may be a death like Luther's, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world.”
“Wer hält stand? Allein der, dem nicht seine Vernunft, sein Prinzip, sein Gewissen, seine Freiheit, seine Tugend der letzte Maßstab ist.”
German
“Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith.”
“Die große Maskerade des Bösen hat alle ethischen Begriffe durcheinandergewirbelt.”
German
“There is a meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler. The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. That evil should appear in the form of light, of good deed, of historical necessity — this is profoundly confusing.”
“Wir sind nicht nur verpflichtet, die Opfer unter dem Rad zu verbinden, sondern dem Rad selbst in die Speichen zu fallen.”
German
“The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children. We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice — we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
English