The commandment of God becomes the element in which one lives without always being aware of it. The commandment as an element of life means freedom of movement and action, freedom from fear of decision. The commandment of God is permission to live as a human being before God. In this it differs from all human laws: that it commands freedom. That which lies beyond everything that can be commanded—freedom—is its true object.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), Theologe und Widerstandskämpfer

Topics: Freedom & Truth, Discipleship

Occasions: For Reflection

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) war ein deutscher lutherischer Theologe, Pfarrer und führender Vertreter der Bekennenden Kirche, der unter anderem in Berlin, London und Finkenwalde wirkte. Er prägte den Begriff der „teuren Gnade“ und schloss sich aus christlicher Überzeugung dem Widerstand gegen das nationalsozialistische Regime an, weshalb er 1945 im Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg ermordet wurde. Seine Schriften fordern Bibelleser bis heute heraus, theologische Erkenntnis mit gelebter Nachfolge und ethischer Zivilcourage in Krisenzeiten zu verbinden.

All quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (630)

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