Did Bonhoeffer Advocate Violent Christian Resistance to Tyranny?

David Beatty
Canby Bible College
GE 214 Ethics
Reverend Ken Shonk
December 16, 2015

On the 9th of April, 1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in the Flossenbrg concentration camp for his part in the failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944.1 Although a minister he knowingly and willingly played a part in the planning of murder.2 Ethically,
how could a Christian, especially a man of the cloth such as Bonhoeffer justify murder? How is
it that such a conspirator came to be honored as one of 10 20th Century martyrs, including Martin Luther King Jr... whose statues now grace the West Front of the famous [Westminster]
Abbey?3 Can a Christian ever be justified in committing murder, much less honored for it?
First, it is useful to define Christian ethics. Jesus Christ neatly sums up the ethical principles to be followed by all who would come to be called Christians in what is termed the Great
Commandment. In Matthew 22:35-40, Jesus declares Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (KJV). Mark 12:28-34 and Luke 10:25-28 also detail
this command. When asked by an expert in the law, who is my neighbor? (Luke 10:25-29)
Jesus answered with the Parable of the Good Samaritan, demonstrating the actions required of a
good neighbor. Christians are called to be in the world, but not of the world, that is, Christians
are to live within the confines of the fallen world and all its sin and evil, but to remain separate
from it.4
As Christ notes in Matthew 5:43, Old Testament passages seem to refer to hating enemies
(you have heard it said - see Leviticus 19:18, Psalm 139:21-22) but many more refer to destroying those who hate God or who hate the Israelites (Esther 9:5 and 16, 2 Samuel 22:41,
1

Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010), 530.
Ibid, 480.
3
Andrew Walker, A Hitler Dilemma, BBC News Magazine, April 14, 2006, accessed December 1, 2015,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4906502.stm.
4
1 John 2:15-17 is the locus classicus; 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Romans 12:2 and John 17:15-17 also refer.
2

Deuteronomy 23:6, Psalm 18:40). Thus, the Old Testament emphasis is upon treating as enemies
those who hate God. There is no real call in the Old Testament to hate your enemy; this
[Matthew 5:43b] is not from the Old Testament, but was a false conclusion in scribal teaching
drawn from the narrow understanding of 'neighbor' as simply one's fellow Jew. Jesus shows that
the true intent of Lev. 19:18 extends even to one's enemies.5 For example, hating enemies was
taught by the Essenes in Qumran.6
Conversely, the Old Testament is replete with commands to show love to enemies: Exodus 23:5 commands the Israelites to help those who hate them, Deuteronomy 19:11 makes special provision for punishment of those who kill their neighbor with hate as opposed to those who
accidentally kill a neighbor without hate, Leviticus 19:18 specifically commands the Israelites to
love your neighbor as yourself, and Proverbs 24:17 and 25:21 are calls to help enemies. Did
Bonhoeffer the Christian actually advocate hating Hitler and did he really participate in his attempted assassination?
For Bonhoeffer, the road to Flossenbrg began in Harlem. When he was attending Union
Theological Seminary in New York in 1930-31, he developed a penchant for attending worship
services at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and was struck by the spirituality of the repressed blacks and befriended many of them. As he took his leave to return to Germany one
black told Bonhoeffer, Make our sufferings known in Germany. Tell them what is happening to
us, and show them what we are like.7 A spark for defending the defenseless was lit. By 1937,
Bonhoeffer had developed Christ's teaching on turning the other cheek in Matthew 5:38-42 into a
mantra for institutional non-violence.8 Evil becomes a spent force when we put up no resis-

R C. Sproul, The Reformation Study Bible, 2nd ed. (Orlando, Fla.: Ligonier Ministries, 2008), 1369.
1QS, Community Rule, Ari Mermelstein, Love and Hate at Qumran: The Social Construction of Sectarian Emotion, Dead Sea Discoveries no. 20 (2013): 237-63.
7
Op cit, Metaxas, 119.
8
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, trans. R.H. Fuller (New York: Touchstone, 1995), 141.
6

tance9 and, There is no deed on earth so outrageous as to justify a different attitude.10 Bonhoeffer wrote that this view changed during the Reformation; the Reformers taught that non-violence was the course to take during personal sufferings, but that when violence and evil were encountered in the performance of duty as bearers of an office ordained by God...we must do the
opposite, and meet force with force in order to check the assault of evil.11 Bonhoeffer notes that
this distinction is not to be found in the teachings of Jesus - the precept of non-violence applies
equally to private life and official duty.12 Bonhoeffer continues: To make non-resistance a principle for secular life is to deny God, by undermining His gracious ordinance for the preservation
of the world;13 and The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him.14 Two years later,
in early 1939 as leader of an illegal underground seminary, Bonhoeffer was led to write, Can
we, then, pray the imprecatory psalms? In so far as we are sinners and express evil thoughts in a
prayer of vengeance, we dare not do so. But in so far as Christ is in us, the Christ who took all
the vengeance of God upon himself, who met God's vengeance in our stead... we, too, as members of this Jesus Christ can pray these Psalms...15 Is this a hint that Bonhoeffer's attitude toward
acceptance of invoking vengeance upon enemies had changed?
When war finally came in September of 1939, Bonhoeffer's brother-in-law, Hans von
Dohnnyi (who was also a close boyhood friend and working in the Abwehr, German military intelligence, and who had been keeping a Chronicle of Shame detailing Nazi crimes from at least
1938)16 began regaling Bonhoeffer with reports of atrocities committed against the Poles, crimes
too gruesome to be believed.17 On the first of September, a brutal new Darwinism broke over
9

Ibid, 142.
Ibid.
11
Ibid, 143.
12
Ibid.
13
Ibid, 144.
14
Ibid, 147.
15
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, trans. John W. Doberstein (New York: Harper & Row, 1954), 47.
16
Op cit, Metaxas, 150, 320, 355.
17
Ibid, 350.
10

Europe: the Nietzschean triumph of the strong over the weak could at last begin.18 Some senior
German army officers became convinced that such atrocities were a horrible stain upon the honor
of Germany and the anti-Hitler conspiracy that had been bubbling since Hitler came to power in
1933 gained new traction; Bonhoeffer was drawn in lending emotional support and encouragement19 during parlor conversations with Dohnnyi but it wasn't until his sister-in-law, Emmi
Bonhoeffer (married to Dietrich's brother, Klaus and non-Christians both) noted, You Christians
are glad when someone else does what you know must be done, but it seems that somehow you
are unwilling to get your own hands dirty and do it.20 Hitler must be killed and the Nazi reign of
terror stopped, Christians would applaud the outcome and they and all humanity would benefit
from it, but doing or abetting the actual deed was incompatible with Christian ethical principles.
There is a borderline between complaining about mass murder and acting to stop it; Bonhoeffer
was as yet unable to justify crossing that line.
In March, 1940 the Gestapo closed Bonhoeffer's illegal seminary. In May, Hitler invaded Belgium, the Netherlands and France which all quickly fell. It is at this point that Bonhoeffer makes the decision to get off the fence and fully join the conspiracy.21 In July Dohnnyi arranged for Bonhoeffer to work with the Abwehr partly to protect him from being drafted into the
German army and partly to protect him from further trouble with the Gestapo, but also to take
advantage of Bonhoeffers international contacts (the conspiracy against Hitler had reached the
stage where contact with the British was needed to discuss political possibilities after the murder
of Hitler).22 Dohnnyi arranged for Bonhoeffer to be transferred to Munich and he spent considerable time in the monastery in Ettal where he worked on his Ethics.23

18

Ibid, 351-352.
Ibid, 358.
20
Ibid, 359.
21
Ibid, 362.
22
Ibid, 369.
23
Ibid, 371.
19

In the summer of 1940, with Hitler and Nazi Germany at its zenith, before the defeat of
the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, before stalemate and then defeat on the Eastern Front,
Bonhoeffer seems to begin to consider ways a Christian might participate in violent overthrow of
secular authority. At precisely this time he wrote, ...there is a freedom from keeping holy of the
Sabbath, from the honoring of our parents, and indeed from the whole of the divine law, a freedom which breaks this law, but only in order to give effect to it anew. The suspension of the law
can only serve the true fulfillment of it.24 Bonhoeffer was actually restating the traditional
Lutheran view on law and gospel,25 saying that although Christ freed Christians from obeying
Mosaic Law, intentional violation of that Law (which, after all is still God's Law) and the Great
Commandment, must only be done with the intention of obeying God. He goes on to say, In
war, for example, there is killing, lying and expropriation solely in order that the authority of life
must be recognized in all its gravity.26 Thus, violation of God's Ten Commandments, even violation of Christ's Great Commandment, is permissible if it actually furthers God's purpose.
In one sense, this is a compromise with utilitarianism which teaches that whereas happiness 'for all' cannot be achieved in every situation,27 that which results in the greatest benefit for
the greatest number of people is ethically correct. In Bonhoeffer's new thinking, God's Law can
be intentionally violated if God's Law is ultimately advanced. In the short term, a suspension of
Christian ethics is acceptable if ultimately God's Law is restored. Like utilitarianism, it is difficult to know the results of any given action. If one intentionally commits murder, for instance
kill Hitler, there is no guarantee that ultimately the most good will result for the greatest number
of people. However, Bonhoeffer also notes that the knowledge of good and evil is therefore separation from God. Only against God can man know good and evil. Thus, one can only know if
24

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics, trans. Neville Horton Smith (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), 257.
The Augsburg Confession XXVII.61 in Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 100.
26
Op cit, Metaxas, 371.
27
Steve Wilkens, Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics: An Introduction to Theories of Right and Wrong, second ed.
(Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2011), 99.
25

any action is good if one knows the mind of God. But this is patently impossible for Man; God
only provides clues to His vast mind and no human can know if any particular action, especially
an action in violation of God's Law, might be in accordance with God's will. When man tries to
decide what is right and wrong his efforts are doomed to failure.28 However, Bonhoeffer notes
that if a man asks God humbly, God will give him certain knowledge of His will; and then, after
all this earnest proving, there will also be the freedom to make a real decision, and with it the
confidence that it is not man but God Himself who, through this proving, gives effect to His
will.29 What Bonhoeffer is saying is that God's Law was intended to give a fallen humanity certain rules and that in Jesus Christ a New Commandment was given that provides a redeemed (regenerated but still fallen) humanity new guidance, and that this new guidance brings a freedom
of action within God's will that can be known through humble prayer. In this Bonhoeffer has
gone beyond Luther's teaching of Deus absconditus and Deus revelatus the hidden will of God
and the revealed will of God, the latter to be found in Scripture.30 Taken to extreme, anyone
could apply Bonhoeffer's humble prayer method and presume that God's will would be forthcoming.
Not everything that happens is simply 'God's will'; yet in the last resort nothing happens
'without God's will...'31 In a sense, this is a form of determinism and contrasts with free will.
Determinism is the belief that nothing happens either randomly or by choice.32 In this form,
God is the ultimate cause of all things, and God wills all things to happen. This is sometimes
called predeterminism, theological determinism or theistic determinism, whose most famous ad28

Todd Kappelman, A Brief Description of Dietrich Bonhoeffers Ethics, bonhoefferblog, August 4, 2010, accessed December 8, 2015, https://bonhoefferblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/14/a-brief-description-of-dietrich-bonhoeffers-ethics/.
29
Op cit, Bonhoeffer, Ethics, 44.
30
R C. Sproul, Everyone's a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, a
division of Ligonier Ministries, 2014), 71.
31
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Martyred Christian: 160 Readings from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ed. Joan Winmill Brown
(New York: Macmillan, 1983), 13.
32
Op cit, Wilkens, 59.

herents are Martin Luther and Jonathan Edwards.33 However, theistic determinism contains
shortcomings, not the least of which is the idea that the acts of human beings are not uncaused
but self-caused. Thomas Aquinas, C.S. Lewis and Norman Geisler prominently hold this selfcaused view.34
Beyond the theological conundrum created by Bonhoeffer's apparent justification of
Christian violence in the face of tyranny, his thoughts have been used to justify such violent actions as fatal attacks on abortion centers.35 In this sense, Bonhoeffer opened a veritable Pandora's
box; had he known that his thoughts would be used to justify what has come to be called Dominion Theology and Reconstruction Theology he would certainly be shocked.36
But did Bonhoeffer actually call for the murder of Hitler? Although Bonhoeffer was
aware of at least five assassination plots, There is not a shred of evidence that Bonhoeffer was
linked in any way to these attempts on Hitlers life.37 Bonhoeffer was not actually involved in
the transmission to the British of anything more than political conditions within Germany and the
German church, Nazi atrocities, and anti-Nazi sentiment among a very large body of other Germans.38 Bonhoeffer was arrested in 1943 after being implicated in a transfer of funds to Switzerland on behalf of 14 Jewish men and women he had helped to escape.39 He was officially charged
with using his position in the Abwehr to avoid conscription and with encouraging others to avoid
serving in the German military.40 He was eventually executed after his name was found among
Dohnnyi's papers in the Abwehr headquarters in Zossen.41 Bonhoeffer was not nearly as active a
33

Walter A. Elwell, ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed., Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001), 467.
34
Ibid, 469.
35
Sara Diamond, Dominion Theology: The Truth About the Christian Right's Bid for Power, PublicEye.org (February 1995), accessed December 8, 2015, http://www.publiceye.org/diamond/sd_domin.html.
36
Mark Juergensmeyer, The Theological Justification of Christian Terrorism and Anti-Abortion Violence, Public
Theology (4/9/2010), accessed December 8, 2015, http://pubtheo.com/page.asp?pid=1543.
37
Mark Nation, Bonhoeffer the Assassin? Challenging the Myth, Recovering His Call to Peacemaking (Grand
Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 86.
38
Letter from Bishop George Bell to Anthony Eden, op cit, Metaxas, 402.
39
Op cit, Metaxas, 389.
40
Op cit, Nation, 87.
41
Op cit, Metaxas, 487, 529.

participant in the anti-Hitler conspiracy as some believe. He nearly succeeded in threading a fine
line between being a loyal German and a loyal Christian. He remained a pacifist and a devout
Christian to the end. He also never betrayed his country. He was in the world, but not of the
world.
In the end, Bonhoeffer's activities in the assassination conspiracy, if indeed he ever really
was active in that arena, came to naught. After initial interest, the British ignored the conspirators, eventually acquiescing to American demands for unconditional surrender;42 many assassination attempts failed; millions of people were murdered by the Germans; Germany itself was reduced to rubble. For Germany, in the end, it was Kant who held sway: a familiar mantra heard at
Nuremberg during the post-war trials of Germans accused of wartime atrocities was, I was only
doing my duty. Bonhoeffer's death served no tangible purpose other than to show the world that
a few Germans disagreed with Kant and the Nazis. So, in the end, it is perhaps appropriate to
honor Bonhoeffer at Westminster.

42

Op cit, Metaxas, 359, 400, 401.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Ethics. Translated by Neville Horton Smith. New York: Simon & Schuster,
1995.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. Translated by John W. Doberstein. New York: Harper &
Row, 1954.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Translated by R.H. Fuller. New York: Touchstone, 1995.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Martyred Christian: 160 Readings from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Edited
by Joan Winmill Brown. New York: Macmillan, 1983.
Diamond, Sara. Dominion Theology: The Truth About the Christian Right's Bid for Power.
PublicEye.org (February 1995). Accessed December 8, 2015. http://www.publiceye.org/diamond/sd_domin.html.
Elwell, Walter A., ed. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. 2nd ed. Baker Reference Library.
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001.
Juergensmeyer, Mark. The Theological Justification of Christian Terrorism and Anti-Abortion
Violence. Public Theology (4/9/2010). Accessed December 8, 2015.
http://pubtheo.com/page.asp?pid=1543.
Kappelman, Todd. A Brief Description of Dietrich Bonhoeffers Ethics. bonhoefferblog, August 4, 2010. Accessed December 8, 2015.
https://bonhoefferblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/14/a-brief-description-of-dietrich-bonhoeffers-ethics/.
Kolb, Robert, and Timothy J. Wengert, eds. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.
Mermelstein, Ari. Love and Hate at Qumran: The Social Construction of Sectarian Emotion.
Dead Sea Discoveries no. 20 (2013): 237-63.
Metaxas, Eric. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010.
Nation, Mark. Bonhoeffer the Assassin? Challenging the Myth, Recovering His Call to Peacemaking. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013.
Sproul, R C. Everyone's a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology. Orlando, FL:
Reformation Trust, a division of Ligonier Ministries, 2014.
Sproul, R C. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version, Containing the Old and
New Testaments. 2nd ed. Orlando, Fla.: Ligonier Ministries, 2008.
Wilkens, Steve. Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics: An Introduction to Theories of Right and Wrong.
second ed. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2011.
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