"The mark of solitude is silence, as speech is the mark of community. Silence and speech have the same inner correspondence and difference as do solitude and community. One does not exist without the other. Right speech comes out of silence, and right silence comes out of speech."
From the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Home Page:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer--along with his twin sister, Sabine--was born on February 4, 1906, in Breslau, Germany. Later a student in Tubingen, Berlin, and at Union Theological Seminary in New York -- as well as a participant in the European ecumenical movement-- Bonhoeffer became known as one of the few figures of the 1930s with a comprehensive grasp of both German- and English-language theology. His works resonate with a prescience, subtlety, and maturity that continually belies the youth of their author.
Bonhoeffer's theologically rooted opposition to National Socialism first made him a leader, along with Martin Niemueller and Karl Barth, in the Confessing Church (bekennende Kirche), and an advocate on behalf of the Jews. Indeed, his efforts to help a group of Jews escape to Switzerland were what first led to his arrest and imprisonment in the spring 1943. His leadership in the anti-Nazi Confessing Church and his participation in the Abwehr resistance circle (beginning in February 1938) make his works a unique source for understanding the interaction of religion, politics, and culture among those few Christians who actively opposed National Socialism, as is particularly evident in his drafts for a posthumously published Ethics. His thought provides not only an example of intellectual preparation for the reconstruction of German society after the war but also a rare insight into the vanishing social and academic world that had preceded it.
Bonhoeffer was also a spiritual writer, a musician, and an author of fiction and poetry. The integrity of his Christian faith and life, and the international appeal of his writings, have led to a broad consensus that he is the one theologian of his time to lead future generations of Christians into the new millenium.
He was hanged in the concentration camp at Flossenbürg on April 9, 1945, one of four members of his immediate family to die at the hands of the Nazi regime for their participation in the small Protestant resistance movement.
If you are unacquainted with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, suggestions for reading, listening and watching would be:
Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community
Letters & Papers from Prison
The Cost of Discipleship
Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom (Focus on the Family Radio Theatre)
And from the Bonhoeffer website: Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace video
A quote from Letters & Papers from Prison:
It often seems hard to have to spend the beautiful long summer days here for the second time; but one just can't choose where one has to be. So we must keep on trying to find our way through the petty thoughts that irritate us, to the great thoughts that strengthen us - I'm at present reading the quite outstanding book by W. F. Otto, the classics man at Konigsberg, The Gods of Greece. To quote from his closing words, it's about 'this world of faith, which sprang from the wealth and depth of human existence, not from its cares and longings'. Can you understand my finding something very attractive in this theme and its treatment, and also - horribile dictu - my finding these gods, when they are so treated, less offensive than certain brands of Christianity? The book is most helpful for my present theological reflections.
For more information, you can click through the pages of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Home Page.
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