DESCRIPTION: Our aim is to understand key motifs of Bonhoeffer's theology and ethics and be able to explain and evaluate them. We will seek to understand how Bonhoeffer's ethics and his theology are Christ-centered and mutually interwoven, and how they relate to the struggle of the church with cultural accommodation in his time and our time. We will also seek to appreciate Bonhoeffer's spirituality in pursuit of deepening our own spirituality and identity as Christians.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: I hope you will deepen the theological grounding for your own ethics, be able to teach articulately how to practice discipleship in the Christ-following tradition that proves itself by its fruits rather than being confused by the ideological winds that swirl around us in this post-modern time, and grow in faithful discipleship as Dietrich Bonhoeffer did.

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: Many are finding Bonhoeffer deeply helpful for developing their identity in a time of scattered and fragmented identity. They believe that by letting Christ be the center, we find key dimensions of the clarification of church identity and personal identity sought by Christians in our time.

COURSE FORMAT: The course will meet twice weekly for two-hour sessions. Lecture and dialogue will be combined with some small-group discussion.

REQUIRED READING:

I will indicate some portions of the reading as centrally important, some as medium in importance, and some as less important, in order to help you allocate your time wisely.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Discipleship. Fortress, 2001.

________. Ethics. Simon Schuster Touchstone Book, 1995.

________. Letters and Papers from Prison. Macmillan, 1972.

________. Life Together. HarperSanFrancisco, 1954, 1993 (and reprints).

De Gruchy, John, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Course Reader.

Kelly, Geffrey, and Burton Nelson. The Cost of Moral Leadership: The Spirituality of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Eerdmans, 2002.

Schliesser, Christine. Everyone Who Acts Responsibly Becomes Guilty. Westminster John Knox, 2007.