Bonhoeffer On: Crossing Over

What happens for us when we step over and start to see things from the other side?

From 2009 to 2012, I attended Boston College, a Jesuit Roman Catholic institution in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, on the western border of Boston proper. As a Protestant Evangelical, I didn’t know what to expect when Jess and I moved from South Florida and our familiar church jobs and community there and I entered into an unfamiliar theological and cultural world. During my first semester, Thomas Groome, a former priest and well-known Catholic educator, who would become a mentor of sorts for me, told me in his charming Irish brogue, “I tink you’ll find crossing over to be… terribly enriching.” It was. 

For three years, I immersed myself in the theology, culture, and community of Boston College and their school of Theology and Ministry, staffed in large part by Jesuit priests. I studied religious education, sociology of religion, student formation, Christian philosophy, Latin, Greek, Biblical studies, moral theology, virtue ethics, and a host of other related subjects. On many Thursdays I went to mass, and I certainly didn’t miss the free lunch (“repast”) afterwards if I could help it. One professor of education referred to me as her “little evangelical.” It was new, it was challenging, and sometimes it was weird. It also helped form me more into the scholar and person I wanted to become. Ironically, it was during that time that I became convinced that the German Lutheran Protestant Dietrich Bonhoeffer would become the primary focus of my academic life’s work (it’s a long story).

At the end of my season at Boston College, when it came time to write my ThM (advanced theological master’s degree) thesis, I had already chosen Bonhoeffer as my subject. I knew I wanted to study his life and writings in a PhD program, whether at BC or at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. I thought about the influence Boston College and Catholicism had had on my life during those three years, and I had noticed that in some significant aspects of his life story and writings, the same seemed to be true of Bonhoeffer. What follows is taken from my ThM thesis, “The Catholic Influence on Dietrich Bonhoeffer”, and I think it shows why this kind of “crossing over” in our lives can be so...enriching:

When in Catholic Rome: Bonhoeffer Discovers the Church

The first great influence of Roman Catholicism on Dietrich Bonhoeffer was actually the city of Rome itself. As Bethge observes in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Rome was the city for which young, educated Germans had longed for some time. Paris and London were not the natural destinations for German youth wanting to broaden their horizons, experience ancient culture, and connect with new or different people; Rome was the symbol of the origins of German culture. It is not surprising, then, that the college-aged Bonhoeffer pushed for and received permission from his parents to travel to the great city to the south with his brother Klaus, in the spring of 1924. Up to this point, Bonhoeffer had had limited interactions with Catholicism:

Relations between Catholics and Protestants were still distant and reserved…it was not until he was in upper school…that it occurred to him to enter a Catholic church in Nordhausen. In a letter to his parents he wrote, almost with alarm, about its magnificence. Not until summer term in Tübingen did he learn something about Catholic practices, and he readily admitted that his overwhelming impression of the Corpus Christi procession in Rottenburg was one of genuine faith. Thus he traveled south willing to approach Catholicism with as few preconceptions as possible. 

So although some of the major draws of Rome were the classical and Mediterranean (to which Dietrich’s brother Klaus was drawn), not specifically Catholic, aspects, Dietrich seemed to seek out the latter, enchanted by the ecclesiastical charm of the Eternal City.

Bethge makes a claim when addressing Bonhoeffer’s interest in Rome that is of some importance to our discussion: “The fascination exercised by Catholic Rome became a permanent influence on Bonhoeffer’s thought. It cannot be said that it diminished his critical awareness, but the Roman expression of the universality of the church and its liturgy had a tremendous impact on him.” Bethge goes on to explain how “provincial, nationalistic, and narrow-minded” Bonhoeffer’s own church seemed in comparison with the universal sense of church he encountered in Rome…. 

Specifically, Bonhoeffer asked questions of and learned much from a priest from Bologna, attended high mass on Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s cathedral (“surrounded by a throng of seminarians, monks, and priests of every skin color”), attended vespers in Trinità dei Monti, and started to feel as if he was gaining “real understanding of Catholicism…beginning to understand the concept of the church.”

In particular, Bonhoeffer observed the concept of confession embodied and practiced all around him. He judged most of the people he encountered in Catholic Rome to be “serious,” a loaded word in certain spheres of philosophy, theology, and ethics…. In noting the seriousness of the participants in the great day of Confession, Bonhoeffer also observes that “none of the things said against Catholicism apply here.” 

Bonhoeffer was not won over by every aspect of Catholic Rome. He was disappointed by the impersonal nature of an audience with Pope Pius XI, and found himself disagreeing on philosophy and theology with a Catholic friend…. However, his experience did lead him to reflect that in comparison with the Catholic church, in his context, “the Protestant church often looks like a small sect.” Bethge concludes the section by affirming that 

There is no doubt, then, of Bonhoeffer’s open-minded interest in Rome. While fully conscious of his Protestant roots, he explored it without iconoclasm or dogmatic prejudice. His educational background and desire to expand his own horizons led him to seek out the different and detect the good in it. He did not set out to confirm that his own denomination was right in all respects; from the beginning, he was positive towards the new. The result was critical affection and affectionate criticism.

Bethge piles up evidence to support this point, from sermons of Bonhoeffer’s extolling the Catholic concept of church over and against the Protestant, to his warning to other Protestant theologians not be prideful in relation to Catholicism, to giving a paper on the Catholic church for an evening of discussion. He quotes at length from a writing of Bonhoeffer’s early years to cement his argument:

The contributions that the Catholic church has made throughout its history to European culture, to the entire world, can hardly be overestimated…It developed an unparalleled spiritual power, and to the present day we still marvel at how it combines the principle of catholicity with its claim to be the one church of salvation, at its combination of tolerance and intolerance. It constitutes a world in itself. Infinite diversity has converged in it…Seldom has any country produced such human diversity as has the Catholic Church. With admirable strength it succeeds in preserving unity in all its multiplicity, and in winning the love and reverence of the masses and awakening a strong sense of community.

Bonhoeffer is also quick to point out the similarities and bonds which still exist between Catholic and Protestant people and traditions:

We make the same profession of faith, we pray the same Lord’s Prayer, and we share a number of old practices. That creates a bond between us, and, so far as we are concerned, we gladly want to live in peace beside this different sister…We are not concerned with the terms Catholic or Protestant, but with the word of God.

Bethge finally brings the discussion to a close by stating that “It is no exaggeration to state that the origins of the theological themes of his early period can be discerned in his Roman experience…His journey to Rome essentially helped him to articulate the theme of ‘the church.” For Bethge, Bonhoeffer’s interest in the church was tied up with Roman Catholicism, Bonhoeffer’s own experience of it, and the concept of concreteness.

The Catholic Flavor of Finkenwalde

When Dietrich Bonhoeffer was approached by the Confessing church to direct one of the seminaries they planned to open in the midst of the German church struggle, Bonhoeffer was torn. He had planned to go to India to learn from Gandhi, but he recognized the opportunity to teach and write theology in a way which was no longer possible in German universities: “I no longer believe in the university…The entire education of the younger generation of theologians belongs today in church cloister-like schools, in which pure doctrine, the Sermon on the Mount and worship are taken seriously.” This first hint at what Bonhoeffer’s vision of theological education under his direction should look like already betrays a monastic influence, and that influence would only become more apparent as Bonhoeffer’s vision sharpened and was made manifest in reality.

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The curriculum of the seminary can best be characterized by the word ‘routine.’ Every day consisted of a routine which included two long services, meditation, and much table fellowship. Services consisted of the singing of psalms and hymns, Old and New Testament lessons, extempore prayer, and a recital of the Lord’s Prayer. “Readings from the Psalms and the Scripture took the form of a lectio continua…resembling Anglican evensong.”

Not everything Bonhoeffer did as director of the seminary at Finkenwalde was received gratefully by his students. “When he wanted to introduce the practice of reading aloud during meals…there was protest against such monkish custom.” Even outside the confines of Finkenwalde, there began to arise rumors of “terrible heresies…Catholic practices, enthusiastic pacifist activities, and radical fanaticism.” Perhaps some of this concern stemmed from the fact that Finkenwalde “had obviously revealed a weak point in German Protestantism.” This weak point had everything to do with the way of life — the routine— that Bonhoeffer had cultivated among the brethren at Finkenwalde….Bonhoeffer often took positions on the church which painted Catholic ecclesiology in a positive light, which was rare for German Protestant seminary educators in the early 20th century. He admired the unity and concreteness of the Roman church, and this was reflected in the ecclesiological balance of his lectures.

Perhaps no aspect of the life at Finkenwalde is more revealing for our project than the “house of brethren” established by Bonhoeffer as a way of living together which was “for Protestants…something which, for centuries, they could only find under Roman Catholic auspices.” This was to be a place of life lived together, in meditation, quiet, community; in short, Bonhoeffer was looking to establish “a new kind of monasticism” which would be lived “in imitation of Christ.” Meditation, prayer, confession, and the Lord’s Supper would be central to the house, the brethren, and Life Together….this lived reality bore the unmistakable impression of Catholic monastic and communal life, especially as recorded by Kempis.       

Ethics in Ettal: Bonhoeffer Lives the Monastic Life

Sixteen years after his life-shaping experience in Rome, a much-matured Bonhoeffer once again found himself living amongst Catholics, though in completely different circumstances. Germany in 1940 was nothing like Rome in 1924, and Bonhoeffer had recently joined the conspiracy against Adolf Hitler. It was through the conspiracy that Bonhoeffer found relief from the pressures of the church struggle and “the mental noise of Berlin.” The site of this retreat was Ettal, a Benedictine monastery located in the Bavarian Alps, populated with anti-Nazi Catholic monks, and the perfect place for Bonhoeffer to work on his Ethics in peace and quiet. He quickly formed relationships with the abbot and the prior at Ettal, and was invited to stay as long as he wished. He spent the entirety of the winter taking refuge in the 700 year-old compound, as he “got to know Roman Catholic life from the inside.” 

…. In fact, some of the priests at Ettal read Life Together while Bonhoeffer was living there and planned to discuss it with him when they finished. Additionally, “the monks read aloud passages from Discipleship at Christmastime.” It is another illustration of just how integrated Bonhoeffer’s doxa and praxis really were, and how Catholicism always seemed to be involved in that fruitful partnership in one way or another. The winter of 1940-41 was one of those seasons of integration and cross-pollination, as “the hospitality in Ettal…opened theological, liturgical, pastoral, and religio-political insights and experiences to him.” 

Tegel to the End

The final chapter of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life... began when he was arrested by the German state for his suspected participation in anti-Nazi activities which eventually amounted to treason. He was moved to a cell in the prison at Tegel, a suburb of Berlin, from which he would write what later became Letters and Papers from Prison. We know from his letters that in prison Bonhoeffer had copies of the Imitatio Christi and The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola in his cell, and read from them daily. 

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I revisit these facts here to illustrate the chronological breadth of the influence of Catholicism on Dietrich Bonhoeffer; from his trip to Rome as a very young college student until the last year of his life, Bonhoeffer was open to, and formed by, a wide variety of experiences and writings which resulted in a remarkable praxis of Christianity for him and those whom he influenced. No person who really knew Dietrich Bonhoeffer could deny the uniqueness of his perspectives and his practice of a life of discipleship, and when one looks deeply into the reasons for that unique and remarkable brand of faith, it is clear that Roman Catholic Christianity was tremendously important in the formation thereof.

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer made a habit of crossing boundaries throughout his life. He traveled throughout Europe and to England, the United States, and beyond. He also transcended traditional, denominational, and academic boundaries, refusing to settle for any provincial or narrow approaches to theology or related disciplines. He listened to Bach and to Negro spirituals. He learned from Adolf von Harnack and from Karl Barth. He read Luther, and he read Kempis. He was a patriotic German, and yet he worked toward his nation’s defeat as Hitler advanced. 

Bonhoeffer’s habit of crossing boundaries ultimately helped make him a good man and a great theologian. When he crossed into Roman Catholic territory, whether literally or literarily, he made choices which have set him apart and which have resulted in a broad and meaningful legacy across academic disciplines and in spheres of popular spirituality. Catholicism was a rich vein (or more accurately, many rich veins) waiting to be mined by someone from outside the tradition. Bonhoeffer, and any who have encountered him since, found his crossing to be enriching indeed. Without this Catholic richness, Bonhoeffer would not have been able to articulate seminal concepts such as cheap o/a costly grace, the relationship of the universal church to a world come of age, the nature of Christian life together, or the interplay between ultimate, natural, and penultimate as he did. The theological and Christian world would be poorer for it. 

The importance of the Catholic influence on Bonhoeffer...should not be lost on anyone hoping to do theology or live as a Christian today: when we transcend the boundaries of our own provincial traditions, when we listen to the voice of the Other in other traditions, and when we seek truth and the heart of Christ wherever it can be found, our own tradition will be better for it. We will be broadened, sharpened, and enriched by crossing over, just as Dietrich Bonhoeffer was. 

If Bonhoeffer was shaped and enriched by his encounters with Roman Catholicism in a time when that was definitely not the norm, and if I was challenged and changed (I think for the better) by my time among my Catholic brothers and sisters, then maybe there is something to this “crossing over” that we can take hold of for our lives and communities. Maybe we need this kind of cross-pollination so that we can grow in our understanding and love for people who are different from us. What kinds of “crossing over” are waiting to enrich us and others? From my own experience at BC, I can tell you one thing Protestants, and especially Evangelical Christians, can be reminded of by our Catholic friends: never underestimate the transformative power of a free lunch.