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After his martyrdom at the hands of the Gestapo in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer continued his witness in the hearts of Christians around the world. His Letters and Papers from Prison became a prized testimony to Christian faith and courage, read by thousands. Now in Life Together there is Pastor Bonhoeffer's experience of Christian community. This story of a unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years reads like one of Paul's letters. It gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.… (more)
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Life Together was young Dietrich Bonhoeffer's manifesto about the Christian community, written as he was leading an underground seminary for the confessing church under Nazi German rule. The members of the seminary knew that
Still, the book deals with the everyday nature of conflict and falling short between one person and another; it drives us into deeper relationship and forgiveness and community.
I'll teach from this book in academic and lay coursework around spiritual formation in communities and networks. It's a bit Lutheran and liturgical in some spots for some readers, but it's overwhelmingly powerful throughout.
Bonhoeffer goes on to give much helpful advice, particularly for servant leadership and healthy confession of sins one to another.
A man who was martyred for his faith, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's (1906-1945) conviction was forged in context of German dialectical theology and the fires of Nazi Germany. This context is essential to understanding Bonhoeffer’s emphases.
The Introduction, written by the book’s Translator, John W. Doberstein, succinctly provides a historical background. The biographical history specifically germane to the topic is the period starting from April 1935, when, by invitation of the anti-Nazi Confessing Church, Bonhoeffer assists in the establishment of a seminary by the Baltic Sea at Zingst, where Bonhoeffer lived “a common life in emergency-built houses with twenty-five vicars.” (p. 11). Life together was moved shortly after to Finkenwalde in Pomerania, and it was Bonhoeffer’s experience and mediations during this time that led to the publication of Gemeinsames Leben in 1938. Another well-known book, The Cost of Discipleship, was also written during this period.
Bonhoeffer’s understanding of life together under the Word (p. 17) is the subject of his relatively small treatise. He draws out his definition of community as being lived in the midst of one’s enemies and oppressors (Chapter I, Community); its commonality expressed in worship, the use of the Psalter, the reading of Scripture, prayer, and the fellowship we enjoy at meals (Chapter II, The Day with Others); its individuality in engaging in both solitude and silence as stillness before the Word (Chapter III, The Day Alone); mutual service and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (Chapter IV, Ministry); and, how sinners can and may exhibit the love of God in Christ to one another (Chapter V, Confession and Communion).
Postmodern and post-Christian paradigms emphasize an ethos of getting together to do meaningful things, but meaning is derived from the experience, not principles that drive the events, and especially not from principles revealed to us in Scripture. Perhaps Bonhoeffer himself over-emphasized experience, but what makes Bonhoeffer compelling in this book is that he speaks—albeit without much citation—biblical truths that have gone largely by the wayside in evangelical circles: an emphasis on listening to God’s Word; spiritual, Christ-centered and other-focused love; self-denial; seeing Christ in others; an emphasis on union—we are members of one Body—and community; and suffering.
Bonhoeffer’s writings, and seminally, his doctoral dissertation Sanctorum Communio (The Communion of Saints), are problematic for both what he does and does not say. For example, in his doctoral thesis he wrote that Christ is present only in the community of the church: “…Christ himself is the community…Christ is present only in the community.” (A Testament to Freedom, pp. 56-57). This is to this reviewer’s mind a con-fusion of Christ with the Body of Christ for which he gave himself: one could easily end up neglecting God’s transcendence by overemphasizing the Incarnation. In other words, as I read this book, I wondered if Bonhoeffer wasn’t having Humanity swallow Deity.
Nonetheless, while it may be true that Bonhoeffer’s novel, neo-orthodox existentialism and his ecumenism are objectionable issues; that he was a theologian who espoused experience over theology; or that (reputedly) in following Barth he laid the groundwork for Death of God Theology: in reading Life Together I was often reminded that miserable sinners need mercy—from God and from one another—and as we walk our own Via Dolorosa with Jesus it is good to have the company of those who think of themselves as sinners getting sanctified. Whatever Bonhoeffer’s failings, identifying this basic truth wasn’t one of them.
Some favorite quotations are:
“Christian community is like the Christian's sanctification. It is a gift which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow from day to day as God pleases” (p. 33).
“Because Christ has long since acted decisively for my brother, before I could begin to act, I must leave him his freedom to be Christ's; I must meet him only as the person that he already is in Christ's eyes” (p. 36).
A discerning reader will glean from this book with the blessing of the Spirit: I recommend it with the previously stated caveats and observations.
Bonhoeffer was the German pastor convicted, imprisoned, and executed for speaking out against Hitler and eventually scheming to assassinate him. As with his opposition
In this book, Bonhoeffer explored the role of Christian community, which he imagines as a small, familial fellowship of believers. Christians, in Bonhoeffer's world, meet together morning and night, before and after their workdays. For that reason, Life Together includes strong opinions about how a community should do daily reading and prayer. Modern Christians may be put off by the depth of involvement Bonhoeffer expects from them, particularly in the chapter entitled "The Day with Others."
The other chapters are devoted to the nature of Christian community, the need for silence and solitude, the role of ministry in community, and the need for confession and communion. Bonhoeffer's praise of solitude echoes Blaise Pascal, when he writes:
"Many people seek fellowship because they are afraid to be alone. Because they cannot stand loneliness, they are driven to seek the company of other people. ... The person who comes into a fellowship because he is running away from himself is misusing it for the sake of diversion, no matter how spiritual this diversion may appear."
I commend this book to you, because it will challenge you to invest more time, energy, and prayer in your local Christian community. Bonhoeffer elevates Christ in all things, and he illustrates beautifully the role individual Christians play in proclaiming Christ. It will encourage you to pursue life together.
Life Together was young Dietrich Bonhoeffer's manifesto about the Christian community, written as he was leading an underground seminary for the confessing church under Nazi German rule. The members of the seminary knew that
Still, the book deals with the everyday nature of conflict and falling short between one person and another; it drives us into deeper relationship and forgiveness and community.
I'll teach from this book in academic and lay coursework around spiritual formation in communities and networks. It's a bit Lutheran and liturgical in some spots for some readers, but it's overwhelmingly powerful throughout.
I think that one of the hardest things the church faces is to keep all of its members focused in on Christ, and that is what the rest of the book was about. He tried to give practical methods of keeping our focus true and on the mark. Unfortunately, at times I think that he got a little over zealous and eccentric in his ideas, such as when he stated that there is something more spiritual and more pleasing in singing in unison than singing with harmony, although he did have a point that we have to be careful that the singing time doesn't turn the attention away from God. Some of his ideas, such as the one just mentioned, seemed to come more out of his own mind than from the Bible, but at other times he was very good at documenting what verses he based his thought on.
He definitely was right on when he said, “If it is really true that it is hard for us, as adult Christians, to comprehend even a chapter of the Old Testament in sequence, then this can only fill us with profound shame; what kind of testimony is that to our knowledge of the Scriptures and all our previous reading of them? .... But, of course, we must admit that the Scriptures are still largely unknown to us. Can the realization of our fault, our ignorance of the Word of God, have any other consequence than that we should earnestly and faithfully retrieve what has been neglected?” Bonhoeffer suggests that there are three key components of time spent in fellowship with believers. He says that these three things are praying a psalm, reading at least a chapter from the Old Testament and a chapter from the New Testament, and singing a hymn. He then goes on to explain his thoughts on each. One thing that I greatly appreciated was his stand on reading Scripture. He feels that it is of utmost importance to read and study the Word of God, and that when admonishing others and when making decisions we must use the Word as our guideline, not logic or experience. This is something that was very prevalent in Rocky Ridge. Often times people would talk about how they've seen things work, or they would compare the church to a business and try to model it after one, but they would forget that we are supposed to be modeling ourselves after Christ and that the Bible is of the highest authority while we are here on earth. I also agree with him that there are too many Christians, myself included, out there today who just don't know there Bible very well, simply because we just don't take the time that we should to read it.
If he had finished the book at this point, after talking about love, service, meeting together, and personal devotions, it would have painted a nice picture but it wouldn't have been complete. If these things were modeled completely, it would create a good community, grounded in the Word, and loving Christ and one another, but as humans we sin, and Bonhoeffer doesn't forget that, so he also included a section on how to respond when there is one in the community who is not living as they should be or who has committed some sin. He reminds us first of all that we are all sinners, and that we have all been forgiven by God, and therefore we all must forgive eachother. Not only this, but it is important to confess to eachother. Confession to a brother causes the problem to not be our own anymore, we no longer bear it by ourselves, and in that we can finally leave the sin behind through the power of Christ.
I felt that Bonhoeffer had some really good things to say in this book. Some of his thoughts seemed a bit idealized, but he also was quick to remind us that we are sinners and we must remember that we are only who we are through Christ.