I have been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison over the past few months. Having been in prison for over a year without formal charges, his theological reflection discusses ethics and philosophy deftly, while quickly complicating religious assumptions of his (and our) day. These words may seem scandalous to many who have never looked at the world, at people of faith, at faith itself, and realized that all we ever have is a little faith. Recently in the book, he has been talking about how little the life of humans changes whether they have faith or not and how seldom the "religious" person can be distinguished from anyone else. Discussing also science and philosophy's tendency to push God out of the equasion, relegating God to the unseen and the unexperienced or the unexplainable, we refuse to see God in any place except the most inner recesses of one's personal life, causing a sort of voyerism in religious circles which seems to have continued manifesting itself, particularly in our day (nearly 70 years later) in which those who identify as religious seek out the sins of those they perceive to be a-religious. Anyway, I appreciate the tension he creates in this quote, as I'm sure most people would protest after a few sentences, only to come to the line, "God lets himself be pushed out of the world on to the cross."
"And we cannot be honest unless we recognize that we have to live in the world etsi deus non daretur. And this is just what we do recognize - before God! God himself compels us to recognize it. So our coming of age leads us to a true recognition of our situation before God. God would have us know that we must live as men who manage our lives without him. The God who is with us is the God who forsakes us (Mark 15:34). The God who lets us live in the world without the working hypothesis of God is the God before whom we stand continually. Before God and with God we live without God. God lets himself be pushed out of the world on to the cross. He is weak and powerless in the world, and that is precisely the way, the only way, in which he is with us and helps us," (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, 360).
All we ever really have is a little faith, but it is enough.
Bonhoeffer goes on to say:
"The shepherds, like the wise men from the East, stand at the crib, not as 'converted sinners', but simply becuase they are drawn to the crib by the star just as they are. The centurion of Capernaum (who makes no confession of sin) is held up as a model of faith. Jesus 'loved' the rich young man. The eunuch (Acts 8) and Cornelius (Acts 10) are not standing at the edge of an abyss. Nathaniel is 'an Israelite in deed, in whom there is no guile;. Finally, Joseph of Arimathea and the women at the tomb. The only thing that is common to all these is their sharing in the suffering of God in Christ. That is their 'faith'. There is nothing of religious method here. The 'religious act' is always something partial; 'faith' is something whole, involving the whole of one's life. Jesus calls men, not to a new religion, but to life," (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, 362).
We cannot relegate our faith to the innmost corners of our existence. To do so is to simply trade faith for religion. To do this is to trade the thing for its shadow. Whereas religion can be worn like a badge, brought out when convenient and used when necessary, faith grabs ahold of us and refuses to let us go. Religion judges us for our bad behavior and demands an account of our sin. Faith names us a sinner first and then says, "Now what?"
"And we cannot be honest unless we recognize that we have to live in the world etsi deus non daretur. And this is just what we do recognize - before God! God himself compels us to recognize it. So our coming of age leads us to a true recognition of our situation before God. God would have us know that we must live as men who manage our lives without him. The God who is with us is the God who forsakes us (Mark 15:34). The God who lets us live in the world without the working hypothesis of God is the God before whom we stand continually. Before God and with God we live without God. God lets himself be pushed out of the world on to the cross. He is weak and powerless in the world, and that is precisely the way, the only way, in which he is with us and helps us," (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, 360).
All we ever really have is a little faith, but it is enough.
Bonhoeffer goes on to say:
"The shepherds, like the wise men from the East, stand at the crib, not as 'converted sinners', but simply becuase they are drawn to the crib by the star just as they are. The centurion of Capernaum (who makes no confession of sin) is held up as a model of faith. Jesus 'loved' the rich young man. The eunuch (Acts 8) and Cornelius (Acts 10) are not standing at the edge of an abyss. Nathaniel is 'an Israelite in deed, in whom there is no guile;. Finally, Joseph of Arimathea and the women at the tomb. The only thing that is common to all these is their sharing in the suffering of God in Christ. That is their 'faith'. There is nothing of religious method here. The 'religious act' is always something partial; 'faith' is something whole, involving the whole of one's life. Jesus calls men, not to a new religion, but to life," (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, 362).
We cannot relegate our faith to the innmost corners of our existence. To do so is to simply trade faith for religion. To do this is to trade the thing for its shadow. Whereas religion can be worn like a badge, brought out when convenient and used when necessary, faith grabs ahold of us and refuses to let us go. Religion judges us for our bad behavior and demands an account of our sin. Faith names us a sinner first and then says, "Now what?"
1 comment:
Good conclusion. Bonhoeffer is still a struggle for Christians even as the church declines around us, more or less proving his point.
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