The Reluctant Revolutionary

Download or read book The Reluctant Revolutionary written by John A. Moses and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2009-04-01 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a uniquely reluctant and distinctly German Lutheran revolutionary. In this volume, the author, an Anglican priest and historian, argues that Bonhoeffer’s powerful critique of Germany’s moral derailment needs to be understood as the expression of a devout Lutheran Protestant. Bonhoeffer gradually recognized the ways in which the intellectual and religious traditions of his own class - the Bildungsbürgertum - were enabling Nazi evil. In response, he offered a religiously inspired call to political opposition and Christian witness—which cost him his life. The author investigates Bonhoeffer’s stance in terms of his confrontation with the legacy of Hegelianism and Neo-Rankeanism, and by highlighting Bonhoeffer’s intellectual and spiritual journey, shows how his endeavor to politicially reeducate the German people must be examined in theological terms.