Saint Martin's Cloak

In a a 2004 article, Ronald Osborne of the Adventist Peace Fellowship addressed the disconnect between Bonhoeffer's pacifism in the 1930's and his conspiring with the anti-Hitler military leaders who attempted to assassinate Hitler in the 1940's. There are many who would like to retain Bonhoeffer in the canon of pacifist martyrs but struggle to explain his part in an act of intentional, lethal (and in my opinion, justified) violence. I am certainly not a Bonhoeffer scholar. I've only read the major works available to English speaking audiences – in English, I should add. Perhaps others have access to his private thoughts or unpublished writings. I'll venture, however, to address Mr. Osborne's arguments and wrestle a bit with Bonhoeffer's own writings. Combatant Bonhoeffer Bonhoeffer's role in the plot against Hitler must be something of an embarrassment to those who published his works. I read The Cost of Discipleship and Letters and Papers fr...

I grew up in a neighborhood of St. Louis County that then included a large number of people from a non-Christian religion. At that point in my life, my best friends literally belonged to another faith. We sometimes talked about religion and I attended their house of worship with them on occasion. We were as straightforward in our religious discussions as sixth graders could be. I said something rather basic like, “We believe Jesus is the Son of God” and they told me something like “We don’t believe in him.” Somehow we managed to say these things to each other without hating each other, much less hitting each other. We’d sit on the stairwell and talk, and then we’d run off to the playground to play. That wonderful experience has shaped the way that I understand inter-religious dialog. I believe the purpose of talking to each other is to understand each other, not to gloss over our religious differences or focus solely on what we have in common. I see no reason why we should have to do t...