The Cross of Reality: Luther's Theologia Crucis and Bonhoeffer's Christology by Barker H. Gaylon

Author:Barker, H. Gaylon [H. Gaylon Barker]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-5064-0049-5
Publisher: Fortress Press (NBN)
Published: 2015-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Not only were these lectures on Genesis important to the students who attended Bonhoeffer’s classes, they serve as a turning point in Bonhoeffer’s career as well, representing a link between his earlier academic writings and his later theological reflections that grew out of his life and work in the church. What is displayed in these lectures is “a turning point in Bonhoeffer’s development from an abstruse academic theologian whose context was solely the university to a theologian for preachers.”[83]

But in addition to their focus on a biblical text, it was Bonhoeffer’s particular emphasis or approach that caught the students’ attention. At a time when the role of the Old Testament was downplayed in the Christian church, Bonhoeffer wanted to make the point that the Hebrew Bible was also a part of the Christian canon; “therefore it had to be read in the light of God’s self-disclosure in Jesus Christ.” Throughout history, according to Bonhoeffer, any attempt to downplay the role of the Old Testament always resulted in

a dualistic separation of creation and redemption and of the public and the private spheres of life. . . . The practical consequences have been far-reaching and destructive. In Bonhoeffer’s own situation such an attitude to the Old Testament led inevitably to the reinforcement of German anti-Semitism. More universally this dualism had bred a perverse attitude to human sexuality, a piety that denies the social and political responsibilities of Christians, and an attitude toward the environment that has allowed its destruction. Bonhoeffer’s own growing love for the Old Testament contributed a great deal to his quite different approach. . . . For Bonhoeffer the God of Israel and of Jesus Christ is always in the midst of the world and can only be encountered there.[84]

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.