Overview

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's dramatic biography, a son of privilege who suffered imprisonment and execution after involving himself in a conspiracy to kill Hitler and overthrow the Third Reich, has helped make him one of the most influential Christian figures of the twentieth century. But before he was known as a martyr or a hero, he was a student and teacher of theology. This book examines the academic formation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theology, arguing that the young Bonhoeffer reinterpreted for a modern intellectual context the Lutheran understanding of the 'person' of Jesus Christ. In the process, Bonhoeffer not only distinguished himself from both Karl Barth and Karl Holl, whose dialectical theology and Luther interpretation respectively were two of the most important post-World War I theological movements, but also established the basic character of his own 'person-theology.' Barth convinces Bonhoeffer that theology must understand revelation as originating outside the human self in God's freedom. But whereas Barth understands revelation as the act of an eternal divine subject, Bonhoeffer treats revelation as the act and being of the historical person of Jesus Christ. On the basis of this person-concept of revelation, Bonhoeffer rejects Barth's dialectical thought, designed to respect the distinction between God and world, for a hermeneutical way of thinking that begins with the reconciliation of God and world in the person of Christ. Here Bonhoeffer mines a Lutheran understanding of the incarnation as God's unreserved entry into history, and the person of Christ as the resulting historical reconciliation of opposites. This also distinguishes Bonhoeffer's Lutheranism from that of Karl Holl, one of Bonhoeffer's teachers in Berlin, whose location of justification in the conscience renders the presence of Christ superfluous. Against this, Bonhoeffer emphasizes the present person of Christ as the precondition of justification. Through these critical conversations, Bonhoeffer develops the features of his person-theology --- a person-concept of revelation and a hermeneutical way of thinking --- which remain constant despite the sometimes radical changes in his thought.

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Overall, Dejonge's impressive survey succeeds in showing how Bonhoeffer's theology of discipleship - and ultimately of martyrdom - was rooted in an understanding of the person of Jesus Christ that he developed early in his career. Mark Chapman, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, In Bonhoeffers Theological Formation, Michael DeJonge presents students of Bonhoeffer with a crucial resource. Those familiar with Bonhoeffers theology will appreciate the discipline and the clarity with which DeJonge engages Bonhoeffers Habilitationschrift, Act and Being ... Few secondary resources on Bonhoeffer offer as much as does DeJonge's Bonhoeffers Theological Formation. Clark J. Elliston, Regent's Review DeJonge helps us to see how Bonhoeffer went beyond Barths early theology and, in showing this, also clarifies how Bonhoeffer was able to articulate a theological ethic with deep resonances with Barth while moving beyond him in specific ways. Mark Thiessen, Studies in Christian Ethics this is an excellent contribution to Bonhoeffer studies... DeJonge does a superb job of clearly presenting complex ideas in their historical and theological contexts. All those interested in the theology of Bonhoeffer, as well as the relationship between the theologies of Bonhoeffer and Barth will want to spend some time with this book. Stephen Lawson, Reviews in Religion & Theology Michael P. DeJonge has offered an insightful and exciting study focussed on Bonhoeffer's second dissertation in view of Systematic Theology in historical perspective. The clarity and precision with which DeJonge engages in his theological argument is matched by a keen awareness that any systematic claim has to ground itself in a clear understanding of its historical situation and critical reflection of its methodology a highly commendable text. Katja Neuman, Literature and Theology this patient investigation of Bonhoeffers early work is welcome, not least because it forces us to rethink Barths early work afresh. Tim Gorringe, Journal of Theological Studies This book will help readers understand Bonhoeffer's early theological thinking and formation, and ways that that thinking was carried into his later works such as Discipleship and his unfinished Ethics. Students of Bonhoeffer will find this an important contribution to understanding the influences that inform both his early and later works. Aaron Klink, Religious Studies Review DeJonge has convincingly sketched the basi contours of the debate that animate Bonhoeffer's early theological development as a student and later lecturer at the University of Berlin. Jordan Ballor, Calvin Theological Journal

this is an excellent contribution to Bonhoeffer studies... DeJonge does a superb job of clearly presenting complex ideas in their historical and theological contexts. All those interested in the theology of Bonhoeffer, as well as the relationship between the theologies of Bonhoeffer and Barth will want to spend some time with this book. Stephen Lawson, Reviews in Religion & Theology Michael P. DeJonge has offered an insightful and exciting study focussed on Bonhoeffer's second dissertation in view of Systematic Theology in historical perspective. The clarity and precision with which DeJonge engages in his theological argument is matched by a keen awareness that any systematic claim has to ground itself in a clear understanding of its historical situation and critical reflection of its methodology a highly commendable text. Katja Neuman, Literature and Theology this patient investigation of Bonhoeffers early work is welcome, not least because it forces us to rethink Barths early work afresh. Tim Gorringe, Journal of Theological Studies This book will help readers understand Bonhoeffer's early theological thinking and formation, and ways that that thinking was carried into his later works such as Discipleship and his unfinished Ethics. Students of Bonhoeffer will find this an important contribution to understanding the influences that inform both his early and later works. Aaron Klink, Religious Studies Review

Michael P. DeJonge has offered an insightful and exciting study focussed on Bonhoeffer's second dissertation in view of Systematic Theology in historical perspective. The clarity and precision with which DeJonge engages in his theological argument is matched by a keen awareness that any systematic claim has to ground itself in a clear understanding of its historical situation and critical reflection of its methodology a highly commendable text. Katja Neuman, Literature and Theology this patient investigation of Bonhoeffers early work is welcome, not least because it forces us to rethink Barths early work afresh. Tim Gorringe, Journal of Theological Studies This book will help readers understand Bonhoeffer's early theological thinking and formation, and ways that that thinking was carried into his later works such as Discipleship and his unfinished Ethics. Students of Bonhoeffer will find this an important contribution to understanding the influences that inform both his early and later works. Aaron Klink, Religious Studies Review

this patient investigation of BonhoeVers early work is welcome, not least because it forces us to rethink Barths early work afresh. Tim Gorringe, Journal of Theological Studies This book will help readers understand Bonhoeffer's early theological thinking and formation, and ways that that thinking was carried into his later works such as Discipleship and his unfinished Ethics. Students of Bonhoeffer will find this an important contribution to understanding the influences that inform both his early and later works. Aaron Klink, Religious Studies Review

this patient investigation of BonhoeVers early work is welcome, not least because it forces us to rethink Barths early work afresh. Tim Gorringe, Journal of Theological Studies

DeJonge helps us to see how Bonhoeffer went beyond Barths early theology and, in showing this, also clarifies how Bonhoeffer was able to articulate a theological ethic with deep resonances with Barth while moving beyond him in specific ways. Mark Thiessen, Studies in Christian Ethics this is an excellent contribution to Bonhoeffer studies... DeJonge does a superb job of clearly presenting complex ideas in their historical and theological contexts. All those interested in the theology of Bonhoeffer, as well as the relationship between the theologies of Bonhoeffer and Barth will want to spend some time with this book. Stephen Lawson, Reviews in Religion & Theology Michael P. DeJonge has offered an insightful and exciting study focussed on Bonhoeffer's second dissertation in view of Systematic Theology in historical perspective. The clarity and precision with which DeJonge engages in his theological argument is matched by a keen awareness that any systematic claim has to ground itself in a clear understanding of its historical situation and critical reflection of its methodology a highly commendable text. Katja Neuman, Literature and Theology this patient investigation of Bonhoeffers early work is welcome, not least because it forces us to rethink Barths early work afresh. Tim Gorringe, Journal of Theological Studies This book will help readers understand Bonhoeffer's early theological thinking and formation, and ways that that thinking was carried into his later works such as Discipleship and his unfinished Ethics. Students of Bonhoeffer will find this an important contribution to understanding the influences that inform both his early and later works. Aaron Klink, Religious Studies Review

In Bonhoeffers Theological Formation, Michael DeJonge presents students of Bonhoeffer with a crucial resource. Those familiar with Bonhoeffers theology will appreciate the discipline and the clarity with which DeJonge engages Bonhoeffers Habilitationschrift, Act and Being ... Few secondary resources on Bonhoeffer offer as much as does DeJonge's Bonhoeffers Theological Formation. Clark J. Elliston, Regent's Review DeJonge helps us to see how Bonhoeffer went beyond Barths early theology and, in showing this, also clarifies how Bonhoeffer was able to articulate a theological ethic with deep resonances with Barth while moving beyond him in specific ways. Mark Thiessen, Studies in Christian Ethics this is an excellent contribution to Bonhoeffer studies... DeJonge does a superb job of clearly presenting complex ideas in their historical and theological contexts. All those interested in the theology of Bonhoeffer, as well as the relationship between the theologies of Bonhoeffer and Barth will want to spend some time with this book. Stephen Lawson, Reviews in Religion & Theology Michael P. DeJonge has offered an insightful and exciting study focussed on Bonhoeffer's second dissertation in view of Systematic Theology in historical perspective. The clarity and precision with which DeJonge engages in his theological argument is matched by a keen awareness that any systematic claim has to ground itself in a clear understanding of its historical situation and critical reflection of its methodology a highly commendable text. Katja Neuman, Literature and Theology this patient investigation of Bonhoeffers early work is welcome, not least because it forces us to rethink Barths early work afresh. Tim Gorringe, Journal of Theological Studies This book will help readers understand Bonhoeffer's early theological thinking and formation, and ways that that thinking was carried into his later works such as Discipleship and his unfinished Ethics. Students of Bonhoeffer will find this an important contribution to understanding the influences that inform both his early and later works. Aaron Klink, Religious Studies Review

Author Information

Michael P. DeJonge is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida, where he teaches on the history of Christian theology and topics in modern religious thought. His publications include Bonhoeffer on Resistance: The Word Against the Wheel (2018), Bonhoeffer's Reception of Luther (2017), and The Bonhoeffer Reader (co-edited with Clifford J. Green; 2014).

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