Bonhoeffer and the Powers-that-Be

Abstract

This article traces the impact of the Hitler dictatorship on Dietrich Bonhoeffer: a highly perceptive and critical scholar who remained loyal to his Lutheran formation. Bonhoeffer strenuously maintained a strict Lutheran understanding of the role which history had decreed for the Protestant German Empire and its Emperors. Revolution in the Western sense was, therefore, never an option for German subjects; it was theologically unthinkable. However, with regard to Adolf Hitler, the situation demanded a radical revision, because Hitler proved to be a false ruler. Essentially, having declared war on his own helpless subjects, the Jews, Hitler had violated the Lutheran understanding of a legitimate ruler and, therefore, had to be removed from office.