A man of conviction

Are you willing to stand up for your beliefs, even if it means standing alone?

I recently had the chance to watch “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin” in theaters. This well done, thoughtprovoking film tells the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), a German pastor who spoke out against the Nazi movement and the persecution of the Jewish people and other minorities. He decried the idea that a political leader like Hitler should be the head of the church and declared that only Christ is head of the church. Bonhoeffer was one of the leaders of the Confessing Church, a movement within German Protestantism in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to governmentsponsored efforts to unify all of the Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi German Evangelical Church. He also was part of a resistance cell that plotted to assassinate Hitler.

For his opposition to Nazism and involvement in the assassination plot, Bonhoeffer was tried, found guilty and hanged on April 9, 1945, during the collapse of the Nazi regime.

Before we go any further, spoiler alert: now’s your time to stop reading if you so choose. Also, bear in mind that it’s a period drama, rather than a 100% historically accurate retelling of Bonhoeffer’s life. The filmmakers definitely added some details to make it more dramatic and tell a story. However, the embellishment doesn’t negate the message of the film and what Bonhoeffer stood for.

With those disclaimers out of the way, let’s get into it. Here are some of the quotes attributed to Bonhoeffer that resonated the most with me: “The church is the conscience of the state and must call it to account.”

Bonhoeffer stood in staunch opposition to any attempts to establish a national church loyal to Hitler, such as in September 1933 when the nationalist church synod at Wittenberg passed a resolution to apply the Aryan paragraph within the church, meaning that pastors and church officials of Jewish descent were to be removed from their posts. That November, there also was a rally by 20,000 Deutsche Christens demanding the removal of the Jewish Old Testament from the Bible. Bonhoeffer decried such actions, both from the pulpit and on the airwaves. Two days after Hitler was installed as chancellor, Bonhoeffer delivered a radio address in which he attacked Hitler and warned Germany against slipping into an idolatrous cult of the führer (leader).

Bonhoeffer’s sentiment of the church as the nation’s conscience stands in sharp contrast to those today who believe that Christians should not be involved in politics at all. Has the church abdicated its responsibility and that’s why we see such moral decline in society today? Bonhoeffer would argue that the church has a moral duty to speak up against injustice of all kinds, and ungodly candidates and policies.

“To do nothing in the face of evil is evil,” he said.

Bonhoeffer worked closely with prominent Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller in establishing the Confessing Church. Niemöller is famous for having said: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Bonhoeffer was willing to risk his own personal safety to be a voice for what he felt was right. He ran an underground seminary for a time at Finkenwalde to train Confessing Church pastors. After the Gestapo closed that seminary in 1937 and arrested 27 students and pastors, Bonhoeffer spent two years conducing a “seminary on the run” as he traveled among eastern German villages.

Bonhoeffer briefly visited the U.S. in 1939 upon the invitation of Union Theological Seminary, his alma mater. He was invited to continue his studies and friends urged him to stay. However, he felt he could not, and returned to Germany after only two weeks.

“I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America this time. I must live through this difficult period in our national history along with the people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people,” Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter to Reinhold Niebuhr.

One of the more moving scenes of the film occurs towards the end when Bonhoeffer and fellow prisoners are being kept in an abandoned schoolhouse in the country. The war is coming to an end, but the prisoners have not been liberated yet. Bonhoeffer is preparing to offer Communion to his fellow prisoners, and a Nazi guard enters the room and stretches out his hands to partake. One of the fellow prisoners tells Bonhoeffer not to give the guard the elements, but Bonhoeffer says something to the effect of, “It’s the Lord’s table, not yours” and passes the bread to the guard. Bonhoeffer recognizes that he doesn’t have the authority to mete out justice. At the time of his execution, Bonhoeffer asks God to forgive his captors.

We all have to ask ourselves what hill we are willing to die on. What matters so much to us that we would stake our very lives upon it? Some may have called Bonhoeffer foolhardy for the decisions he made, but no one could say he was wishy-washy or cowardly. He was a man of conviction.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

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