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Bonhoeffer Niece Shares Insights with Seminarians
CHICAGO, IL (November 21, 2001) - "Our being Christians today will be limited to two things: prayer and righteous action among men. All Christian thinking, speaking and organizing must be born anew out of this prayer . . . "
German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer's words were written in commemoration of the baptism of Dietrich Wilhelm Rudiger Bethge, but seemed to embody his Christian mission as well. Bonhoeffer's niece, Dr. Renate Bethge, knew about Dietrich Bonhoeffer's mission long before
others did. She spoke of the context behind Bonhoeffer's famous prison letters during two recent speaking engagements at North Park Theological Seminary (NPTS).
Bonhoeffer's May 1944 letter to the Bethge family remains one of many noted passages contained in numerous Bonhoeffer books. A portion of that letter was read by North Park Theological Seminary (NPTS) Professor Emeritus Burton Nelson as a precursor to a speech by Bethge during a morning chapel service at Nyvall Hall.
Over the course of two years, Bonhoeffer wrote many letters in prison, which provide insight into the Nazi oppression and Bonhoeffer's theology on how Christians should respond to evil. Bethge was 17 years of age when Bonhoeffer was sent to prison. Bonhoeffer was executed in April 1945 for his involvement in the German Resistance during the reign of Adolph Hitler in Germany. Bethge and her family hid the Bonhoeffer prison letters in their garden - they were unearthed after World War II ended.
The daughter of Ursula nee Bonhoeffer, Renate Bethge grew up in Bonn, Germany, and married Eberhard Bethge, a pastor. Eberhard Bethge worked closely with Bonhoeffer in directing a seminary of the Confessing Church. Bonhoeffer and Eberhard exchanged numerous letters later on during Bonhoeffer's prison stay, although most of Bonhoeffer's letters could only be written to his parents and fiancée, Maria.
According to Bethge, her uncle was a happy person who played the piano well and enjoyed music. She became more aware of Bonhoeffer's passion for Christian social action through reading prison letters like the baptism correspondence.
Germans didn't embrace Bonhoeffer's message in the years shortly after the letters were revealed. Since then, however, Bonhoeffer's theology has become widely respected in Germany and numerous churches and schools there have been named in his honor. "In their first opinion, he died as a political conspirator," Bethge said. "Now, people believe he died as a martyr."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wasn't the only martyr from his family, Bethge noted. Three other relatives were executed for being part of the German Resistance, including Bethge's father, Rudiger Schleicher.
For years, Eberhard Bethge played a key role in making certain Bonhoeffer's letters were in the public spotlight. Renate Bethge has continued that mission, co-editing books about Bonhoeffer speaking about the Nazi movement and the circles of the German resistance. She spoke at seminaries in New York, Washington, DC, and St. Paul, Minnesota, before arriving in Chicago.
Although she said she has noticed an increase in a sense of United States nationalism following terrorist attacks on the country, she did not draw parallels to the Germany she grew up in more than 60 years ago.
"I think you have a different situation than we have," said Bethge as she compared Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s with the United States. "It came out of the blue for you. We were waiting for it."
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