Jeremy L. Berg

Bonhoeffer family to Eric Metaxas: “We are horrified to see how the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is…being distorted and misused…”

For ten years, my studying of the scriptures and sermon writing was all done under the kind, thoughtful, spectacled gaze of Dietrich Bonhoeffer framed on the wall in my study next to the framed portraits of Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard, and C. S. Lewis. Consider it sort of my Mt. Rushmore of Christian influences.

Bonhoeffer was a pastor and theologian in Nazi Germany, whose resistance to Hitler’s regime and the German church’s tragic equivocation with the Third Reich landed Bonhoeffer in prison and ultimately hanged on a gallows as a martyr at the age of 39.

I first read Dietrich Bonhoeffer in college, picking up a paperback copy of his “Cost of Discipleship” at a thrift store, not realizing that thrifty purchase was a priceless treasure and demanding challenge. “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die,” is the most well-known quote. Come and die to self. Come and die to a religion of “cheap grace.” Die to any version of Christianity that gives you the benefits of Christ without the call to take up one’s own cross. And pertaining to this piece, come and die to the practice of slandering a person’s name by misappropriating his legacy. More on that soon.

Reading this book was one of my first brushes with a serious scholar who took Jesus’ radical teachings in his Sermon on the Mount at face value. For Bonhoeffer, Jesus was detailing the inescapable ethic for being a true follower of His Way. It would be unpopular, counterintuitive, and costly. But church history is full of creative ways of neutralizing and side-stepping Jesus’ most famous teaching.

In seminary, when other 24 year olds were tearing up the town, hitting the bars and sowing their wild oats, I remember one spicy Friday night checking out a low-budget film on the life of Bonhoeffer called “Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace” (2000) to watch over some Chef Boyardee. I know, how did Keri get so lucky! ;) (I recently watched this film again with my son, Peter, who after watching would be proud to bear Dietrich’s name.)

Some 15 years after my first dose of Bonhoeffer in college, his little book Life Together became another explosive and helpful text as I struggled to plant a church and shape a Christian community. Bonhoeffer’s reflections on true Christian fellowship cut through all the seeker-sensitive, church-growth metrics, etc. for what makes a so-called “successful” church.

I have continually come back to his stark warning to visionaries and idealists like me who are tempted to love my idea of church more than the actual people God has given me to pastor. Here’s a couple quotes from that pivotal read:

“Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest, and sacrificial….”

“Because God has already laid the only foundation of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ, long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that common life not as demanders but as thankful recipients.“

To underscore the depth of my admiration for Bonhoeffer, I wanted our first born’s middle name to be Dietrich, but I was unsuccessful in getting my wife on board with a German middle name. So, I deeply revere Dietrich’s life and teachings, writings and legacy, and I have devoured multiple biographies of his life including Eric Metaxas’ bestseller which gets us to our point.

So, I am very disturbed by the ways his legacy is being twisted and his name being used to advance ideas and causes he would find reprehensible. And to be honest, I really enjoyed reading Metaxas’s biography when it came out, only slowly discovered how full of errors it is, and how poorly it was received by actual Bonhoeffer scholars. (See Eric Metaxas Vs. Every Bonhoeffer Scholar in the World.) I remember when my prof, another Bonhoeffer enthusiast, commented on Metaxas’ book, describing the real skill it takes to transform a German Lutheran from the 1930s into a 21st century American Evangelical.

To approach the shocking audacity of what Eric Metaxas is doing, you have to imagine someone using Martin Luther King Jr.’s name to support Jim Crow or fight against desegregation. It’s maddening, yet it’s happening. Not only happening, but now helping shape a film that will soon be in theaters. Please do not go support this film.

I was glad to see Bonhoeffer’s family speaking out, 86 of them signing a statement, as well as a group of reputable Bonhoeffer scholars adding their own voice of protest to moment. Enough from me; please read this piece by John Fea entitled, “Bonhoeffer family to Eric Metaxas: “We are horrified to see how the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is…being distorted and misused…”

Lord, have mercy. Let all who have ears to hear, listen.