Dietrich Bonhoeffer had never seen anything quite like it.
The faith in America, that is.
In Germany, Bonhoeffer grew up in the intellectual pursuit of God. He knew God was good. How could he not? He spent long hours specifically studying that fact.
But in America, under Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Sr., Bonhoeffer saw faith spill out into action. He saw a people who not only knew that the Lord was good—they actually believed it, too, so much so that it changed their lives. The experience had a heavy impact on Bonhoeffer, who returned to Germany an opponent of cheap grace and a proponent of costly grace.
“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession,” Bonhoeffer wrote in The Cost of Discipleship. “Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has […] Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”
But when Bonhoeffer returns to Germany, ready to revive a nation he saw stuck in stagnant faith, he finds a church under siege by the elected Nazi powers, in which churches are now commanded to fall in line under the consolidated Reichskirche or else face the consequences.
They tear down images of Jesus and the apostles. They add new regulations to the Ten Commandments. What’s more, they claim Jesus was Aryan rather than Jewish, and they call Adolf Hitler a “prophet and a true savior.” And much to Bonhoeffer’s dismay, many churches acquiesce to the blasphemous rule of the Nazis.
But Bonhoeffer’s life has been changed. Christianity is no longer about the mere study of God; it’s living for Him, too. He unites with the Confessing Church, a movement of Protestant pastors who oppose the Nazification of Germany and who speak out against the Nazi persecution of the Jews.
But Bonhoeffer believes he can do more. He could do things that go against his pacifistic convictions. In fact, if things go to plan, he could even help assassinate Hitler.
“Is Hitler the first evil ruler since Scripture was written?” a pastor protests when Dietrich considers the plot.
“No,” Bonhoeffer admits. “But he is the first one I can stop.”
Bonhoeffer’s faith compels him to fight for the marginalized and oppressed. He appeals to Christianity when he witnesses Black Christians suffering under racism, and he likewise speaks out and acts against the evil done to Jewish people during the Holocaust. Others, witnessing Bonhoeffer’s zeal, are encouraged by his example to join him, as we’ll see in the next section.
One such man is Martin Niemöller, a bishop known for his famous quote, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out …” While initially passive in his view of the Nazi rule, he eventually saw the damage being done to the faith as a result of his passivity, and he seeks Bonhoeffer out to ask forgiveness.
The film showcases a fascinating look into the theological tension for Christians between peace and justice. Bonhoeffer believes in pacifism, but he struggles to discern whether it would be wrong of him to assassinate someone (regardless of their wicked deeds). He also grapples with the idea that even if assassinating Hitler is a sin, it may be a “lighter” sin that would end the grievous sins of Hitler. Similar ideas have been debated among believers throughout the history of the church. And the movie’s complex depiction of this issue could lead to a fruitful conversation after the film.
Though many German churches acquiesce to Nazi rule, faithful congregations cry out against the changes made to the faith, regardless of how doing so may lead to persecution. Likewise, people risk their lives to save others.
During his time in the United States, Bonhoeffer studies at Union Theological Seminary, where a friend complains about having to study about God. “That’s what happens when you study the Word so closely,” his friend states. “You forget there’s a God behind them.” Later, Bonhoeffer joins an Abyssinian Baptist Church, where Rev. Powell asks Bonhoeffer about his testimony and shares his own with the German theologian. Rev. Powell’s story includes finding God in a revival tent. “Jesus was with His people,” Reverend Powell says, “just like He promised.” Bonhoeffer’s experiences there reshape his understanding of the Christian life. He no longer simply wants to “pursue theology.” Instead, he hopes to become a catalyst to help the German church to grasp “real faith.”
Meanwhile, a bishop in Germany alleges that God sent the German church a prophet and “a true Savior” named Adolf Hitler. When Bonhoeffer objects to this blasphemy, another bishop argues that German churches are fuller than they’ve ever been. However, Bonhoeffer reminds the man, “It’s not about how many. It’s about who,” later explaining that God doesn’t care about full pews if the hearts are empty. Bonhoeffer likewise scolds the bishop, telling him that the church belongs to the living God and not any man.
Still, Bonhoeffer cannot prevent the Nazis from enacting their changes to the German church. They ban the Jewish Bible, and they make changes to the text and reinterpret passages to turn Jesus into an Aryan figure. They tear down images of Jesus and the apostles. And, as mentioned, they add two commands to the Ten Commandments.
That’s why Bonhoeffer gives a scorching sermon from Matthew 23, condemning the Nazis who claim to know God but who reject Him in their hearts. He tells the congregation that God doesn’t want our religion. “All He ever wanted was us—our full selves.” He likewise says that “what we need is Christ without religion.” (While this may initially come across as Bonhoeffer condemning the works that come through sanctification, the context of the rest of the film would reject that understanding.)
Bonhoeffer also gets involved in resistance work, such as the Confessing Church, which rejects the changes of the Reichskirche. That group’s members draft a public document against the Reichskirche, which appears to either be the real-life Bethel Confession or, more likely, the Barmen Declaration. A seminary begins raising up young men to teach them how to preach against the Nazification of their churches and country. One man, stirred by Bonhoeffer’s example, condemns the Nazis, calling them “fellow worshipers, just not of the same God” and warning them to repent.
When Bonhoeffer is made aware of the assassination attempt against Hitler, he volunteers to participate in it by quoting the prophet Isaiah: “Here I am! Send me.” When a fellow pastor reminds Bonhoeffer that he’s a pacifist, Bonhoeffer reasons that David was a shepherd and yet was still called to slay Goliath.
Bonhoeffer attempts to reason with a racist man about how our status as God’s adopted children makes us all equal. “I can see by the cross on the wall that you’re a brother under Christ, as my friend, Frank, here is too,” Bonhoeffer says. “Surely, our love of the Lord unites us.”
Bonhoeffer reads his late brother’s Bible, which is filled with underlined sections. Bonhoeffer; his sister calls out to heaven to their late brother. At one point, a light from heaven seems to shine upon Bonhoeffer in a manner reminiscent of Acts 7:54-60.
A man claims that the non-Christian Jews are the “spiritual brothers and sisters” of Christians. Bonhoeffer claims that “the only way to defeat the father of lies is to lie better than he does.” Someone sings “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
People marked with the Star of David are forced into the back of a truck.
There are plenty of Bible verses quoted throughout the film: Psalm 34:8, Daniel 5:5, Isaiah 6:8, Matthew 5:4, 7-8, and 23:27-28, John 1:5 and 18:8, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, James 2:18 and 2 Timothy 1:5.
None.
Someone is shot and killed. Another man is severely beaten by Nazi officials. People are led to the gallows, and we hear the sound of one man being hanged. A man spits on Bonhoeffer and hits him in the forehead with the butt of a rifle, causing his head to bleed. Bonhoeffer witnesses a racist man threaten his Black friend’s life.
We see some images of concentration camps and the starving people suffering in them. We’re likewise told of other cruel things the Nazis have been doing to Jewish people, such as experimenting on them. There’s a reference to the Babi Yar massacre.
We’re told a seminary was burned to the ground. Bombs explode, shaking a building. There’s a reference to a lynching. We see the body of a young man as he is buried in the ground following his death during World War I.
“B–ch,” “d–n” and “h—” are all used one time each. Someone uses offensive slang to refer to a Black person.
Characters sip beer and wine, and some smoke cigars and cigarettes.
None.
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
So writes Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship.
The Lutheran pastor lived in a time that made him acutely aware of the cost of faith. To be a Christian is to make yourself an enemy of the world. And Bonhoeffer’s enemies, true to Christ’s promise, hated him as they hated Christ.
During World War II, battlefields were littered with rubble and bullet-filled bodies. And in Nazi Germany, faithful Christians faced a mental battlefield, too: how to respond to their nation, which so zealously abandoned its faith in order to follow a wicked man who commanded others to follow him into wickedness.
Many before Bonhoeffer’s time have been quoted as saying, “Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.” But there was a bigger question wrestling in Bonhoeffer’s mind: Does that resistance extend all the way to assassinating a wicked tyrant?
Through all of history, Christians have answered that question in different ways. And in Bonhoeffer, we see this pacifistic pastor eventually conclude, Yes, it does.
Bonhoeffer depicts many major events in the man’s life: from his studies in America which so shaped his faith, to the events in Germany which slowly pushed him to work to take Hitler down.
Other than Bonhoeffer’s view on cheap versus costly grace (and the aforementioned struggle regarding Christian pacifism), we don’t see too much of Bonhoeffer’s theological ideas. Instead, Bonhoeffer spends most of its time showcasing just what the pastor means when he talks about faith that motivates us into action—and one that may ultimately require us to lay down our lives.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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