How should we live differently? (beautiful people continued)

Dietrich Bonhoffer was born Breslau, Germany, on 4th February, 1906. He studied theology in Tubingen and in New York.
Bonhoffer returned to Germany and began lecturing on theology in Berlin and wrote several books including Sanctorum Communio (1927) and Act and Being (1931). As he was a strong opponent of fascism he decided to leave Germany when Adolf Hitler gained power in 1933 and found work as a pastor in London.
When he heard that Martin Niemöller and Karl Barth had formed the anti-Nazi Confessional Church Bonhoffer decided to return and join the struggle.
On the outbreak of the Second World War the Gestapo closed down Bonhoffer's seminary and banned him from preaching. Over the next few years worked closely with other opponents of Adolf Hitler including Ludwig Beck, Josef Muller and Hans Oster.
In April 1943 Bonhoffer was arrested with his brother, Klaus Bonhoffer, and brother-in-law, Hans Dohnanyi and accused of plotting against Adolf Hitler. He was held in Buchenwald Concentration Camp until being moved to Flossenburg where he was executed in April, 1945. Ethics (1949) and Letters from Prison (1953) were published posthumously.

What is Faith?

What does it mean to have faith, to follow God today? Bonhoeffer would probably answer that question as he did near the end of his life, in writing to his close friend Eberhard Bethge: “It is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this worldliness, I mean living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures. In so doing, we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously not our own sufferings, but those of God and the world. That, I think is faith.”

(He died for living his faith in a difficult world.)

TuTu True!

Bishop Desmond Tutu crystallizes the power of Bonhoeffer's inheritance in the film, challenging us to look on him as a model, not an idol. Countering the notion that some, like Bonhoeffer, are destined for greatness while the rest of us can sit back and watch history go by, Tutu observes that we are all called by God to participate in creating a just world. Giving your life to freedom fighting, to God, is not easy, he says. "There is no shaft of light that comes from heaven and says to you, ‘Okay, you are right.’ No, you have to hold on to [the call] by the skin of your teeth and hope that there is going to be vindication on the other side.”

(Amen.)


The Challenge of Bonhoeffer A documentary details the life and times of the theologian, ethicist and German double agent.
By Macky Alston Feb. 3, 2006 Beliefnet

follow this link to read full story of a modern hero and martyr
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/128/story_12849_1.html