Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian theologian, pastor, writer, and ultimately martyr. As Hitler and the Nazis rose to power in Germany in the 1930s and 40s Bonhoeffer was among a minority of voices who took a conscientious stand against the Nazi ideology and specifically Adolf Hitler. He warned that Christians were being caught up in a “cult of the Fuhrer” rather than the cause of God. His deeply spiritual and faith-based response to the political realities of his day led him to become part of the German resistance movement and eventually to involvement in an assassination plot against Hitler. Ultimately it also led to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s imprisonment and death at the hands of the Nazis.
In this special podcast episode, JB Shreve and Ben Lagrone look at the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and we consider what took place in his life that separated him from the rise of the mob mentality in Germany during the interwar years.
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Most people naively look back on these major events of history and believe they would never follow the Nazis, never be swept up in the madness of the mob, never follow the wrong path. The humbling reality, however, is that in such times of change and political transition – most people are fooled, and most people are led astray!
We look at the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and ask the question, as believers, how do we live a life free from the gravitational pull of the mob and polarizing political times? This story and these questions are particularly relevant today. In an era when deception and polarization are running rampant in our society and political system, how do we live a life above the fray?
Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23
Additional Links:
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer – German Theologian and Resister (Christianity Today)
- Bonhoeffer Biography
- Timeline of Bonhoeffer’s Life (PBS)