Who is Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 in Poland and passed away at the young age of 39 in 1945 in Germany. His 39 years were very fruitful. He pastored, taught Bible studies, and was involved in an assassination plot against Hitler, believing that “not to speak” or act against injustice “is to speak.”

What did Dietrich Bonhoeffer write?

Bonhoeffer's most popular writings are The Cost of Discipleship, Life Together, and Letters and Paper from Prison. From his writings we learned that he deeply loved the Lord Jesus, and would follow him at any cost, and desired that others would love him the same.

Person of Faith

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Poland and faced the social, political, and military pressures of Nazism while spreading the Word of God.

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The effects of the Holocaust were catastrophic. Many innocent lives were lost in the onslaught of Adolf Hitler’s wake.

One notable casualty was that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 and passed away at the young age of 39 in 1945. His 39 years were very fruitful.

He was a Lutheran pastor who used his biblical theology to unite the church against the Nazi regime.

In 1933 the German Lutheran Church supported the Nazis. Bonhoeffer knew that Nazism was not coherent with Scripture, thus he and other theologians founded the Confessing Church against Nazism.

Bonhoeffer’s actions united the church in the 20th century; furthermore his writings continue to unite believers in the 21st century. Life Together, Ethics, and The Cost of Discipleship are among his critically acclaimed books.

Bonhoeffer’s faith in Christ is evident in his writings despite his terrible circumstances. He was hanged for opposing the Nazi regime.

The Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Birth

Dietrich was born in Poland to an affluent family.

Occupation

He decided to become a theologian and minister at the age of 14 against his family’s wishes.

Critical Moment

Dietrich rejected the church’s support of Nazism by creating the Confessing Church, a non-government sanctioned house church.

Seminary

He directed the seminary of the Confessing Church.

Publishing

Dietrich’s seminary was forcefully closed by the Gestapo. Later that year he published his first book, The Cost of Discipleship.

Publishing

Dietrich published his second book, Life Together.

Arrest

He was arrested for plotting Adolf Hitler’s assassination and was taken to Tegel prison.

Conspiracy

Dietrich had ties to the coup conspiracy which ultimately failed.

Death

He was hanged at the extermination camp at Flossenbürg, Germany. His last words were, “This is the end; for me, the beginning of life.”

Publishing

His Letters and Papers from Prison were published as a book.

1906

1920

1933-1934

1935

1937

1938

1943

1944

1945

1951

Testimony

Article: 4 Min

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Did You Know?

by Mark and Barbara Galli, Friends of Bibles.net

Article: 9 Min

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and "The Cost of Discipleship"

by Randy Alcorn at Eternal Perspective Ministries

Messages: 40 Min

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

by Stephen Nichols

Infographic

"Who Am I?"

Bonhoeffer wrote this poem while in prison, while wrestling with lies about his identity spoken over him by both his persecutors and his own soul. We made this wallpaper in hopes that you might save these words to your phone and be encouraged by them when you too are wrestling with discouragement.

Quote

Because I am
a preacher of the Word,
I cannot expound Scripture unless
I let it speak to me
every day.
I will misuse the Word in my office
if I do not keep
meditating on it in prayer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Quote

Contrasts Between God and Us

In me there is darkness,
But with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways,
But you know the way for me.
Lord Jesus Christ,
You were poor
And in distress, a captive and forsaken as I am.
You know all man’s troubles;
You abide with me
When all men fail me;
You remember and seek me;
It is your will that I should know you
And turn to you.
Lord, I hear your call and follow;
Help me.

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Source

Video: 27 Min

Bonhoeffer:
Pastor, Martyr,
Prophet, Spy

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life and writing
forces us to wrestle with tough questions
about our role in society, and our
relationship with God.

by Eric Metaxas and Shirley Hoogstra at Calvin University

Image

Whoever does not
bear his own cross
and come after me
cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:27 ESV

Impact

Article: 5 Min

Seminary in Nazi Germany

by Stephen Nichols at The Gospel Coalition

Quote

The person who
loves their dream of community
will destroy community,
but the person who
loves those around them
will create community.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Quote

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Bible Reading

One cannot simply read the Bible, like other books. One must be prepared really to enquire of it. Only thus will it reveal itself. Only if we expect from it the ultimate answer, shall we receive it. That is because in the Bible God speaks to us. And one cannot simply think about God in one’s own strength, one has to inquire of him. Only if we seek him, will he answer us.

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Source

Messages: 35 Min

Helping
Each Other
Endure to
the End

by John Piper

Verse

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Verse

John 13:34-35 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Quote

Why Christians Need Each Other

But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find his living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man.

Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ.

The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain; his brother’s is sure.

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Source

Quote

A man who confesses
his sins in the presence
of a brother knows
that he is no longer
alone with himself;
he experiences
the presence of God
in the reality of the
other person… in the
presence of a brother,
the sin has to be
brought into the light.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Article: 8 Min

Costly Grace and a Concentration Camp

by Javier Garcia at The Gospel Coalition

Quote

One act of
obedience
is worth
a hundred sermons.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Video: 5 Min

"By Gentle Powers"
Hymn Performance

May God comfort you as Siegfried Fietz sings the hymn, “By Gentle Powers,” written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, with the melody composed by Fietz.

by Siegfried Fietz

Messages: 72 Min

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
and Christian
Social Witness

by Eric Metaxas

Quote

God Loves the Lowly

Where reason is indignant, where our nature rebels, where our piety anxiously keeps us away: that is precisely where God loves to be. There he confounds the reason of the reasonable; there he aggravates our nature, our piety—that is where he wants to be, and no one can keep him from it.

Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly…. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in.

He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Source

Quote

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.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Quote

The Need to Be People of Integrity

We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretense; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical.

Are we still of any use? What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, and straightforward men. Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness?

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Source

Verse

Ephesians 4:25 ESV

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Folk | Indie

Bonhoeffer’s Prayer

by Bifrost Arts feat. Molly Parden

Verse

Micah 6:8 ESV

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Article: 12 Min

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Final Thoughts on His Life and Death

by Randy Alcorn at Eternal Perspectives Ministries

Video: 4 Min

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s
Last 12 Hours

Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived with courage
until the very end of his life. This video
explores the final hours of his life in a
concentration camp.

by Jim Belcher at IVP

Quote

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.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Quote

The Cost of Discipleship

The messengers of Jesus will be hated to the end of time. They will be blamed for all the division which rend cities and homes. Jesus and his disciples will be condemned on all sides for undermining family life, and for leading the nation astray; they will be called crazy fanatics and disturbers of the peace.

The disciples will be sorely tempted to desert their Lord. But the end is also near, and they must hold on and persevere until it comes. Only he will be blessed who remains loyal to Jesus and his word until the end.

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Source

Quote

The fact that
Jesus Christ died
is more important
than the fact
that I will die.
And the fact that
Jesus Christ was raised from the dead
is the sole ground
of my hope
that I, too, will be raised on the
day of judgment.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Books

The Cost of Discipleship

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Christian Living

Difficulty: Easy

Get the book

Life Together

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Christian Living

Difficulty: Easy

Get the book

Book Review

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr,
Prophet, Spy

by Eric Metaxas | Biography

Difficulty: Intermediate

Get the book

Bonhoeffer on the Christian
Life: From the Cross for the World

by Stephen Nichols | Biography

Difficulty: Scholarly

get the book

read a chapter

7 Men and the Secret
of Their Greatness

by Eric Metaxas | Biography

Difficulty: Easy

GET THE BOOK

Person of Faith

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Birth

Occupation

Critical Moment

Seminary

Publishing

Publishing

Arrest

Conspiracy

Death

Publishing

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Did You Know?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and "The Cost of Discipleship"

by Randy Alcorn at Eternal Perspective Ministries

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

by Stephen Nichols

"Who Am I?"

Contrasts Between God and Us

Seminary in Nazi Germany

by Stephen Nichols at The Gospel Coalition

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Bible Reading

Helping Each Other Endure to the End

by John Piper

Acts 2:42 ESV

John 13:34-35 ESV

Why Christians Need Each Other

Costly Grace and a Concentration Camp

by Javier Garcia at The Gospel Coalition

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Christian Social Witness

by Eric Metaxas

God Loves the Lowly

The Need to Be People of Integrity

Ephesians 4:25 ESV

Folk | Indie

Bonhoeffer’s Prayer

Micah 6:8 ESV

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Final Thoughts on His Life and Death

by Randy Alcorn at Eternal Perspectives Ministries

The Cost of Discipleship

The Cost of Discipleship

Life Together

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Bonhoeffer on the Christian Life: From the Cross for the World

7 Men and the Secret of Their Greatness

Precious in the sight of the Lord

is the death of his saints.

Psalm 116:15 ESV

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Helping
Each Other
Endure to
the End

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
and Christian
Social Witness

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr,
Prophet, Spy

Bonhoeffer on the Christian
Life: From the Cross for the World

7 Men and the Secret
of Their Greatness

Precious in
the sight of
the Lord 