DESCRIPTION: The aim is to understand key motifs of Bonhoeffer's theological ethics and be able to explain and evaluate them for their helpfulness in giving strength and clarity to our own faith and ethics, and to the renewal that churches need in our own time of seductive ideologies. 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 churches with cultural accommodation in his time and our time. We will each seek to write something about how we can develop his theological ethics further in teaching for our own churches and places of ministry--which have some resemblances to his time but are also facing some new, though analogous, challenges.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND 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 in ways that learn from Bonhoeffer, we find key clarification of church identity and personal identity now.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students completing this course will deepen their theological grounding and understanding of Christian Ethics, grow in faithful discipleship, and 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 postmodern time).

COURSE FORMAT: The course is divided into twenty units of readings and lectures. The course is designed to be completed in a ten-week period while allowing for flexibility in your schedule. We suggest you complete approximately two lessons per week. Some of the reading is deep. So it needs to be spaced out, not rushed.

REQUIRED READING:

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Discipleship. Fortress, 2001. 200 pages. ISBN: 0800683048. Pub. Price: $21.

(A less expensive paperback edition, Cost of Discipleship, can suffice, but it lacks the very helpful critical notes. ISBN: 978-0684815008. Pub. Price: $16.)

________. Ethics. Fortress. 2005. 349 pages. ISBN: 978-0800683269. Pub. Price: $29.

________. Letters and Papers from Prison. Macmillan, 1972. 350 pages. ISBN: 978-0684838274. Pub. Price: $16.

________. Life Together. HarperSanFrancisco, 1954, 1993. 115 pages. ISBN: 0060608528105. Pub. price: $13.99.

Tödt, Heinz Eduard. Authentic Faith: Bonhoeffer's Theological Ethics in Context. Eerdmans, 2007. 289 pages. ISBN 978-0802803825. Pub. Price: $24.

Required films to be viewed:

Bonhoeffer, dir. Martin Doblmeier (2004).

Theologians Under Hitler, d. Steven D. Martin.

1. Three short reflection essays for one hour each (25% each = 75% of course grade)

2. Journal in dialogue with reading OR a final paper on Bonhoeffer, approx. 3,000 words (25%)