Ten Theses on Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Over at Faith and Theology, Ray Anderson, emeritus professor of theology at Fuller Theological Seminary (I took one class -- Theology of the Family -- from him many years ago) offers ten very intriguing theses on Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bonhoeffer remains an intriguing and enigmatic theologian and example of Christian life these many years since his martyrdom, yes he was a martyr even if he would never claim the title for himself. He was a man who lived his faith on the edge and showed us that true faith could not be cautiously lived. You have to simply get out there and trust in God's grace -- but to be a person of faith is to be a person who acts.

I provide just one of the theses for you to read, but I think this sums things up well:

9. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a maverick theologian. John Maverick was a 19th-century Texas rancher and legislator who received a herd of cattle in payment of a bill and turned them loose on the range without a brand. When one of them turned up without a brand, it was assumed to be one of Maverick’s. Many have tried to mark Dietrich with their own brand, to no avail! He slipped away from the death of God theologians when they realized that the same man who wrote from prison about living in a world without God was the one who invited a Russian atheist fellow prisoner to participate in a final communion service just before being executed. Pacifists put a claim on him but felt betrayed by his admission that he would kill Hitler himself if the lot fell to him as a member of the conspiracy. Evangelicals like his talk about Jesus but wish Bonhoeffer had been more concerned about his unsaved relatives and friends. Social activists applaud him for his concern for the oppressed but are embarrassed by his orthodox Christology. Even in death, as in life, he remained unbranded.