Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Barmen Declaration

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is often mentioned in the same breath as the Barmen Declaration, and for good reason: he was one of the most visible members of the Confessing Church. But he was not at Barmen. In May 1934, he was serving as a German-speaking pastor at a congregation in London. He learned of the declaration's adoption by telegram.

Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church

Bonhoeffer had already been vocal in his opposition to the German Christians and the Aryan Paragraph. His 1933 essay 'The Church and the Jewish Question' argued that the church must not merely bandage the victims of an unjust state wheel but must 'jam a spoke in the wheel itself' — a remarkably courageous statement for the time. He returned to Germany in 1935 to direct a Confessing Church seminary at Finkenwalde.

Costly Grace and Cheap Grace

Bonhoeffer's most famous work, The Cost of Discipleship (1937), opens with his distinction between costly grace and cheap grace. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship — the kind of religion that accommodates itself to the world, blesses what the state does, and demands nothing. Costly grace follows Christ wherever he leads, even to the cross. In this sense, Bonhoeffer's theology is a profound elaboration of Barmen Thesis 1: Christ is Lord, and following him costs something.

Martyr of the Confessing Church

Bonhoeffer was arrested in 1943 for his involvement in the resistance movement and the assassination plot against Hitler. He was executed at Flössenburg concentration camp on April 9, 1945 — just days before Allied forces liberated the camp. He was 39 years old. His death stands as the ultimate witness to the claim Barmen made: that no earthly power can be Lord over the church's soul.

Bonhoeffer's Legacy

Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison, written during his imprisonment, have influenced generations of theologians and pastors. His concept of 'religionless Christianity' — a faith that engages the world without retreating into pietism — continues to spark debate. But what is beyond debate is his witness: he lived and died for the conviction that Jesus Christ, not Adolf Hitler, is Lord.