Dietrich Bonhoeffer och den religionslösa kristendomen – eller att vara kristen är att vara människa

Abstract

The overall purpose of the essay is to analyse what Dietrich Bonhoeffer meant by Religionless Christianity. For this I have chosen to use the substantial idea analysis. I first came across the concept of freedom of religion to Christianity and Religionless Christians, in the book Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Tankar om en 1900-talsmartyr by Martin Lind in which he discusses what Bonhoeffer might discuss with Religionless Christians. This book is therefore the origin of the selection of literature I have chosen to use in the essay. Bonhoeffer writes several letters from prison about the movement he sees towards a new phase in human history, in which man can no longer be religious. However, Bonhoeffer uses the word religion in such a way that its content cannot be clearly determined. It is Bonhoeffer’s conviction that the world has come of age, which means that the time for religion is over. For his remarks concerning Religionless Christianity, Bonhoeffer was inspired both by the social contextual change, his fellow prisoners and other theologians like Karl Barth and Wilhelm Dilthey. However, it is worth noting that it is still not safe to demonstrate Dilthey’s influence on Bonhoeffer. It has not yet been possible to safely demonstrate a dependency. I do not believe that it is possible to clearly say what Bonhoeffer meant by Religionless Christianity. In particular, we are not even safe to determine what Bonhoeffer meant by religion. How could we then safely determine what Religionless means? I see it rather as retrospective constructions when we talk about how posterity sees what Bonhoeffer possibly meant by Religionless Christianity, interpreted by Bethge’s compilation of Bonhoeffer’s writings. Therefore, the answer to the analysis of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer meant by Religionless Christianity shows that it is not possible to know exactly what he meant by Religionless Christianity. You can only say that Bonhoeffer reasoned in terms of the role of religion or none role of religion in the context of a world which Bonhoeffer believed had come of age and where, according to Bonhoeffer, Religionless Christianity exists. Bonheoffer argues that the Religionless Christians lives in the Religionless Christianity as a man as Christ advocate. The consequences of this would be that, to be a Christian is to be human. I understand that Bonhoeffer argues that when our actions conform to Christ’s incarnation, we live in full responsibility of the reality given by Christ.