How Does Bonhoeffer Defend Conspiracy Theories?

This chapter explores the ethical framework that informed Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s decision to become a conspirator in response to the threat posed by the Third Reich. Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian, died resisting Nazism and his name works as an argument-clincher due to his dramatic conversion to “realism” faced with the horror of Germany’s crimes. His involvement in the conspiracy against Hitler was an extraordinary “venture of responsibility”, considering the people involved, the given circumstances, the relevant questions of principle, his own motives, and the situation.

Bonhoeffer’s letter to Eberhard Bethge, written on June 8th 1944, reveals his progress towards the idea of a “world come of age”. The actions of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) in response to the threat posed by the Third Reich has provided inspiration for resistance movements worldwide. However, the history of Bonhoeffer’s pacificism is complex.

Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Gestapo on April 5, 1943, but the conspiracy continued to move forward. He was an early critic of the church in Germany, even the Confessing Church, for not daring “to quit anxious faltering and enter the storm of events” with decisive action. His most controversial action was his participation in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler.

Bonhoeffer’s justification for being part of the conspiracy was that this was what he referred to as a “boundary case”. He believed that there is no justification of actions in advance without criteria for good and evil, and this is what makes one thing over another.

Bonhoeffer’s history and unwavering stance on pacifism have led many scholars to question why he considered himself a “guilty martyr” and to what extent he directly acted. The question of truth, Bonhoeffer argued, could not be bypassed by the ecumenical movement, as it was on that question that the Confessing Church focused.

How did Bonhoeffer justify his actions?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a prominent Christian theologian and pastor, was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. His views on responsible action can be applied to resisting the erosion of human rights in our contemporary context. Bonhoeffer believed that the world is one reality, Christ’s reality, which he called the Christuswerklicht. He emphasized the importance of discernment of God’s will in any situation, and his actions and previous resistance actions cannot serve as exact blueprints for resisting in our context.

Bonhoeffer’s theory of responsible action suggests that we must encounter the Christuswerklicht in our situations and discern the will of God. When we witness human rights being taken away from individuals and with a government intent on gutting legislation, this creates a specific context for resistance. Engaging with and encountering the Christuswerklicht today requires deep empathy and motivations to come from a place of love.

Bonhoeffer’s ideas on responsible action are relevant to how we can respond when trying to resist the erosion of human rights in our context today. By recognizing the Christuswerklicht in the face of refugees, LGBTQ+ people, and those under rubble in Gaza, we can better understand and respond to the erosion of human rights and the need for a deeper connection with God.

What are the two arguments against lying?

Lying is morally wrong due to two main reasons: it corrupts the ability to make free, rational choices and robs others of their freedom to choose rationally. Kant believed that to value ourselves and others as ends, we have perfect duties to avoid damaging, interfering with, or misusing the ability to make free decisions. Virtue ethics, on the other hand, focuses on the development of character or what people should be. Virtues are desirable qualities of persons that predispose them to act in a certain manner, such as fairness. Being virtuous is considered ethical in virtue ethics.

While assessing the morality of individual acts is difficult, those who advocate this theory generally consider lying wrong because it opposes the virtue of honesty. The unity of the virtues doctrine manages this apparent conflict between virtues, stating that the virtuous person cannot achieve one virtue without achieving them all. When facing a seeming conflict between virtues, virtue ethics charges us to imagine what an ideal individual would do and act accordingly, making the ideal person’s virtues one’s own. In essence, virtue ethics finds lying immoral when it is a step away from becoming the best person we can be.

What is the moral argument for lying?

Lying to enemies is a morally justified act, as enemies do not deserve the same treatment as friends or neutrals. Lying to enemies prevents harm to many people, making the good consequences outweigh the bad ones. Other types of lying include mental reservations, which divide a statement into two parts, with the first part being misleading and the second part being a “mental reservation”. For example, a person might lie about never cheating on their wife, not stealing cakes, or not touching the painting, but only the first part is true.

What was Bonhoeffer’s famous quote?

In this text, Dietrich Bonhoeffer discusses the importance of love and the relationship between humans and the world. He emphasizes that God loves the real world, not ideal human beings, and that what we find repulsive in their opposition to God is for Him the ground of unfathomable love. Christianity preaches the infinite worth of what is seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of what is seemingly so valued.

Bonhoeffer’s first service to others in a community involves listening to them, as God not only gives God’s Word but also lends us God’s ear. We do God’s work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them. He encourages us to say “No” to sin and “Yes” to the sinner, and to learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or don’t do, but more in light of what they suffer.

Bonhoeffer also emphasizes the importance of the Church, which exists for others, not dominating but helping and serving. The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. He advises seeking God, not happiness, and to give thanks for the ordinary, small gifts.

Bonhoeffer also emphasizes the value of waiting for the little things in life, as God entrusts great things to those who will not thankfully receive them. He believes that one act of obedience is worth a hundred sermons and that the awareness of a spiritual tradition that reaches through the centuries gives one a sense of security in the face of all transitory difficulties.

Bonhoeffer’s book, Life Together, provides practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. He believes that the community of the saints is not an “ideal” community consisting of perfect and sinless men and women, but one that proves its worth of the gospel of forgiveness by constantly and sincerely proclaiming God’s forgiveness.

Bonhoeffer’s teachings highlight the importance of silence in the face of evil and the need to act in response to injustice. He encourages us to drive a spoke into the wheel of injustice rather than simply bandaging the wounds of victims.

What was the Bonhoeffer dilemma?

The opera “The Opera” revolves around the struggle between Bonhoeffer and his ethical purity, as the decision to return violence for violence is seen as a repudiation of all that was worth living for. Hatten, a Term Fellow of Penn State’s Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies, has a broader perspective on when violence is morally justified and what is the right response to evil. He met with Institute Fellow Paul Rose, a professor of history and Mitrani chair in Jewish Studies, in 1996, and they proposed combining a performance of the opera with a conference on ethical issues. Hatten and Rose met with Robert Edwards, the Institute’s director, to propose the idea.

What is moral justification of civil disobedience?

Civil disobedience, a practice that has the potential to destabilize society, is justified by three conditions: 1) targeting serious and long-standing injustice, 2) being undertaken as a last resort, and 3) in coordination with other minority groups with similar grievances. These conditions are tied to the need to diffuse its destabilizing potential and discourage its proliferation, as well as the efficacy and role of civil disobedience in society.

Rawls restricted civil disobedience to entrenched, longstanding injustices, particularly violations of the principle of equal basic liberties. He believed that appeals to publicly shared principles of constitutional morality were more likely to persuade them and bring about reform. However, critics reject this justificatory condition, as it arbitrarily excludes progressive but not widely shared conceptions of justice and appeals to other principles of morality.

Critics also argue that civil disobedients should pursue the common good by protesting international and climate policies, as well as private agents such as trade unions, banks, health insurance companies, labs, farm factories, and private universities. Additionally, the observation of past and present social movements, such as the Abolitionist movement, MeToo, and Black Lives Matter, suggests that civil disobedients may seek to transform common sense morality rather than appeal to public principles of political morality.

What does Bonhoeffer believe?

The church is a divine realm where sinners are welcomed, wounded heal, oppressed are set free, and the poor receive the gospel. Bonhoeffer defined the church as “Christ existing as community”, believing that through the Holy Spirit, Christ takes form within the community and lives for others. Lutheran theologians focus on Paul’s New Testament teachings of justification by grace, faith alone, and not works of the law. However, Bonhoeffer also admired the Old Testament, particularly the Psalms, which emphasizes the law (Torah) and the need for righteous living within God’s realm.

What were Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s last words?

On April 9, 1945, Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged at Flossenburg, just days before the American liberation of the POW camp. Bonhoeffer, a lecturer at Berlin University, denounced the Nazi Fuhrerprinzip, a leadership principle that was a synonym for dictatorship. He moved to London to pastor a German congregation and supported the Confessing Church movement in Germany. Bonhoeffer returned to Germany in 1935 to run a seminary for the Confessing Church, which was closed in 1937.

Bonhoeffer’s continued objections to Nazi policies led to his loss of freedom to lecture or publish. He joined the German resistance movement and even plotted to assassinate Hitler. In April 1943, Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Gestapo, and evidence implicated him in the plot to overthrow the government came to light. He was court-martialed and sentenced to death. While in prison, he acted as a counselor and pastor to prisoners of all denominations. Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison was published posthumously, and his celebrated works of theology include The Cost of Discipleship and Ethics.

What is the justification of disobedience?

One may only justify disobeying unjust laws when such disobedience betrays the principles of fair and equal social cooperation.

What was Bonhoeffer’s theory?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German philosopher and theologian who believed that ethical behavior was based on the reconciling of the world’s reality with God’s reality through Christ. He believed that ethics should be centered on the actions of responsible individuals in the face of evil. Bonhoeffer was critical of ethical theory and academic concerns with ethical systems for failing to confront evil directly. He believed that evil was concrete and specific, and could only be combated through specific actions.

Bonhoeffer’s uncompromising stance against Nazism was reflected in his work, Ethics. His early opposition to the regime led to an active conspiracy in 1940 to overthrow the regime. Bonhoeffer worked on Ethics until his arrest in 1943. Born in Breslau, Bonhoeffer was the son of Karl Bonhoeffer, a leading empirical psychologist at Berlin University. He received his doctorate from Berlin University in 1927 and served as a Lutheran pastor in London from 1933-35.

How does Bonhoeffer justify civil disobedience?

The Gospel of Mark suggests that Jesus advocated civil disobedience in the Temple in Jerusalem for the greater good or the love of God. This was echoed by Bonhoeffer, who believed Christians had a duty to speak out and be disciples of the Church, which meant carrying the crosses. Jesus spoke out for the oppressed on numerous occasions, often using a sword as a weapon. Joseph Fletcher believed it was the most loving thing to do in certain circumstances.

The Gospel of Luke suggests that the government’s authority should be respected, as Jesus was challenged to obey Caesar and pay taxes in the temple. He replied, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s”.