American theologians love Dietrich Bonhoeffer [DB]. I could correct that with some nuance: some do, some don’t, but books about him are mostly from Americans and the academic study of him occurs much more in the USA than in Germany. A well-known German theologian once told a friend of mine that “Germans don’t study Bonhoeffer. They study Barth.”
Seems as though Bonhoeffer was quite insightful about both the origins of and the current state of the American church at the time. We see the implications of the “origins of American theology in the Lollards and Wycliffe and in the dissenters of English church and society as well as in the number of refugees from theological statism in Europe that found their way into the American church” even today as well as the “tolerant uncontrolled denominationalism that baptized personal religious experience and theology as the foundation for the church.” I wonder what Bonhoeffer would say about how the American church went further down this trajectory today?
I have much more to learn about Bonhoeffer and thus this book sounds like a good route to go. I think an "outsider's" look at Christianity in America at that time showed some interesting observations, such as the fact that he wanted to attend church with a Black congregation. He saw some areas where there were problems not just related to race but to denominational divides and low tolerance for differences among Christians. I may not be correct in this and look forward to another's study of Bonhoeffer's life and experience.
Seems as though Bonhoeffer was quite insightful about both the origins of and the current state of the American church at the time. We see the implications of the “origins of American theology in the Lollards and Wycliffe and in the dissenters of English church and society as well as in the number of refugees from theological statism in Europe that found their way into the American church” even today as well as the “tolerant uncontrolled denominationalism that baptized personal religious experience and theology as the foundation for the church.” I wonder what Bonhoeffer would say about how the American church went further down this trajectory today?
I have much more to learn about Bonhoeffer and thus this book sounds like a good route to go. I think an "outsider's" look at Christianity in America at that time showed some interesting observations, such as the fact that he wanted to attend church with a Black congregation. He saw some areas where there were problems not just related to race but to denominational divides and low tolerance for differences among Christians. I may not be correct in this and look forward to another's study of Bonhoeffer's life and experience.