A Bonhoeffer Moment!
- Jun 16
- 11 min read
“To do and dare—not what you would, but what is right. Never hesitate over what is within your power, but boldly grasp what lies before you. Not in the flight of fancy, but only in the deed there is freedom. Away with timidity and reluctance! Out into the storm of event, sustained only by the commandment of God and your faith, and freedom will receive your spirit with exultation.”
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, July 21, 1944
Post #1
Are you, like me, having difficulty making sense of the world today?
The world has become more and more incomprehensible. What I thought was the slow but steady progress of a commitment to the ideals of the equality and worth of all humans, the value of all sentient beings and the natural world, is no longer the world we live in. Today narrow supremacist views and bigotry are aided by official governmental policies in the US and in many nations. Highlighted daily by infantile internet posts by a President of our country that would not be allowed in any home or school but is tolerated by privately owned social media nor condemned by his self-proclaimed Christian followers and elected Republican politicians.
How do we make sense of this reality and how do we respond, with Bonhoeffer, “To do and dare”?
This is not a hypothetical world. It is real; it is existential. It is becoming more violent. The official governmental line in the US is cruel, brutal and dishonest. People and our planet are suffering. People are dying in the world when “might makes right” is now the official policy of the US government, done in the name of all of us, at home and abroad. It appears nothing can be done to stem the tide of the current evil perpetrated in the name of the United States.
Often, I am angry, like so many Americans as expressed in mass demonstrations, social media and in our daily conversations with friends and family. However, we still hold on to a more inclusive and compassionate future. We were frustrated that early in the second Trump administration little was being done to counter the narrative and policies of his executive orders. Then what seemed like the lone voice of Bishop Marianne Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington DC, sounded the call of hope and compassion. Today many individuals and organizations have been mobilized to provide a counter narrative and help us return to a more pluralistic and humane vision for the United States. In this post I have attached links to the many individuals and organizations speaking out with courage as we are met each day with a new revelation of cruelty by our government acting with impunity.
In each subsequent post I will offer observations from these many voices. The goal of my postings is to highlight that we are not alone. We learn from each other.
Some are holding out hope for this off-year election to “solve” the situation by electing more compassionate leaders. Some put their hope in the court system to hold the line on the most egregious actions of the current cast of self-serving leaders. Some want greater mass demonstrations that might shut down the nation to show the strength of the people at large. Some are looking to violence to solve the situation. Actions such as the attempt of a lone armed individual who attacked the dinner of journalists with the President present, are more and more likely when it appears that the current situation is just getting worse. Each day we are faced with a new cruel announcement and more lies. The US’s war on the Iranian people was just the latest in a long litany of misguided and ill-conceived actions.
The situation is dire. The three branches of government are in the ideological hold of the Project 2025 vision and a President acting as a dictator. This is exacerbated by the lack of bravery from law firms, universities and large corporations operating to protect their narrow self-interests.
I have entitled my overarching theme of my posts, “A Bonhoeffer Moment,” because I feel we are at a crucial moment needing to act with clarity about how dire the current crisis is. So, I begin my postings with what I think Dietrich Bonhoeffer can teach us.
When Nazi Germany was at the height of its cruelty and destructiveness, a group of German individuals concluded that the only way to stop the cruelty was to assassinate Hitler. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Christian Pastor and Theologian, made this judgement with a small group of German resisters. People have made similar comparisons to our time in the US and the need for a Bonhoeffer-like response. A closer look at the Christian ethic and discipleship of Bonhoeffer and at the comparison of the US to Germany is crucial. Yes, I do think we are in a Bonhoeffer moment , but not through the violent act of murder. Let me explain.
Bonhoeffer is best known for what he called “costly grace” and “cheap grace.” Tripp Fuller, a Lutheran theologian gives us the overview of what this means for today, especially when the writers of Project 2025 have tried to appropriate Bonhoeffer for their agenda.
I use the writings of Fuller for two reasons. First, I agree with him, and I believe he deserves to be highlighted. I want others to realize there are many voices providing a counter narrative to what gets “airtime” in the commercial press. Why doesn’t the media cover his voice more rather than the voice of Christian heresy coming from the MAGA movement? Second, Fuller is an “influencer” with over 4 million followers. Not a Taylor Swift but a respectable outreach. He earns my respect by working hard to reach more people. We can help maximize our own efforts by highlighting what others are doing. Again, I list other key resources at the end of this post. I will continue to draw attention to others doing the important work of speaking out.
First, Bonhoeffer’s view of “Cheap Grace.”
I offer this perspective not to suggest that my Christian perspective is the only route to resistance to the insanity of our time. But I want to offer a different perspective from the MAGA movements use of a Christian label for their actions, which I, like Bonhoeffer believe is “culture Christianity,” that is rooted in a social and political perspective not the teachings of the Jewish Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth, or the work of Saint Paul who spread Jesus’ teachings. I am also aware that there is much in Christian history that deserves condemnation. I will address this history in other posts. For this post, let us understand the meaning of Bonhoeffer for today. Tripp Fuller:
“Cheap Grace as Political Accusation”
“ ‘Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church.’ That famous opening line wasn’t a generic spiritual exhortation. It was a specific accusation against the German church of 1937.
What did Bonhoeffer mean by cheap grace? He meant grace understood as a theological ‘dispensation’—a doctrine that allows Christians to embrace national solidarity, racial ideology, and political accommodation without feeling obligated to obey Jesus’ concrete commands. Cheap grace is what happens when Christianity becomes a cultural identity rather than a costly discipleship. It’s the grace that whispers: You can be a good Christian and a good Nazi. You can love Jesus and look away from your Jewish neighbor. You can follow Christ and follow the Führer.
The German church had made its peace with Hitler because it had embraced cheap grace—grace that demanded nothing, challenged nothing, cost nothing. And Bonhoeffer was calling that out as heresy.
And here is how Fuller summarizes “Costly Grace” for today:
“What Costly Grace Looks Like Now?”
“Bonhoeffer taught that the church’s truth depends on its form of existence. A church that has made peace with injustice cannot speak a prophetic word—it has lost the substance necessary to be heard. Only a community actually practicing discipleship—obedience to Christ, solidarity with victims, willingness to suffer—has the standing to resist.”
“So, what would costly grace look like in America today?”
“It would mean refusing to let Christianity be a tool for political domination. It would mean standing with immigrants, with the LGBTQ+ community, with the poor—the ‘least of these’ whom authoritarian Christianity would marginalize. It would mean being willing to lose status, influence, and institutional security for the sake of faithfulness. It would mean building communities of discipleship that are not chaplains to empire but witnesses to another Kin-dom.
Perhaps, like Bonhoeffer, we may find hope, not in the political fray itself, overwhelmed by crisis upon crisis, but in an alternative community bound by a higher allegiance. We may need to form communities that embody an alternative. The first battle is against the state’s overreach. The second battle is for the soul of the church itself [and I might add the soul of each individual]. And Bonhoeffer insisted that we cannot win the first battle if we lose the second.
This is the work of what Bonhoeffer called ‘religionless Christianity’—a faith not performed for cultural respectability but lived in concrete obedience. It doesn’t ask ‘How can Christianity help us gain power?’ but ‘What does following Jesus require of us, even if it costs us everything?’”
So, if this is a “costly grace” and a Bonhoeffer moment what does it mean for us today. Fuller helps us with this as well.
“The American Church Struggle”
“I want to be careful here. America in 2026 is not Germany in 1935. We are not living under a Nazi regime. Historical analogies can illuminate, but they can also distort if we press them too far.
But I think we are in a struggle for the soul of the American church. And the dynamics Bonhoeffer identified are alive and well among us.
We have a movement seeking to fuse Christian identity with national and political identity—a movement that treats support for a particular leader as the mark of authentic faith. We have demands for loyalty that rival the loyalty we owe to Christ. We have churches blessing power rather than standing with the powerless. We have a theology that offers spiritual comfort to those in power without demanding any costly obedience.
And we have a silent middle—Christians who aren’t quite comfortable with the direction things are going but who prioritize institutional stability, denominational unity, and not making waves. They’re the ‘intact churches’ of our moment, and Bonhoeffer would have harsh words for them.
The questions we must ask ourselves are uncomfortable: Who are the ‘German Christians’ in our context—those aligning the church with authoritarian nationalism? Who are the ‘neutral” churches—those seeking institutional survival through accommodation? And who are the voices calling us to a second battle—to recover the substance of the church before we can speak a prophetic word?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Many American Christians who invoke Bonhoeffer are functionally aligned with the forces he resisted. And many who have never read him—who may not even be Christian—are, by their solidarity with the marginalized and their refusal to bless empire, living out his vision more faithfully than those who quote him.”
[Note: for the full article by Fuller click here: https://processthis.substack.com/p/cheap-grace-in-a-red-hat-stealing]
This is a good reminder that the US today is not Hitler’s Germany, even if we do recognize elements of the MAGA sphere and Trump’s actions that have similarities. We have functioning, though threatened and fragile, democratic institutions. It demands “costly grace” to protect and defend what we have.
I am worried that there is a growing academic conversation about the limitations of democracy. This is dangerous. Reinhold Niebuhr’s admonition is appropriate here:
"Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary."
Niebhur, the greatest 20th Century American Protestant theologian, was a colleague of Bonhoeffer’s at Union Seminary in New York and was clear eyed about human’s capacity for both good and evil.
Democratic action is still possible in the US today. Violence is not needed. We have options, but it will take the discipleship that Bonhoeffer challenges us to live. For now, we need to focus on how to address the forces that are thwarting these institutions. Again, a topic for a later post.
I maintain that the Bonhoeffer ethic can also motivate more than the committed Christian, trying to live the discipleship suggested by Bonhoeffer. Certainly, committed Christians, living this ethic can inspire others to act as well. In addition, it helps to give the world a different view of Christianity than what gets represented in the press so often as the hegemony of the so-called evangelical Christian nationalists. Bishop Budde and Pope Leo III are cases in point. More on their ideas in a future post.
As a preview, my future posts will address the following topics:
“Trump’s bizarre antics and unconstitutional actions are a smokescreen for other issues about which we are not paying attention. e.g. Artificial Intelligence, The Pope and Stephen Colbert”
“Confessions of a tamed idealist: Coming to grips with a realism and human nature in all its capacities”
“Being clear eyed who Trump is: A clinical narcissist and a dangerous ‘clown’”
“Project 2025 and the MAGA Intellectuals: Some serious thinkers who will remain after Trump leaves the stage”
“The MAGA movement: ‘cultural religion’ not orthodox Christianity and having some legitimate concerns”
“The Sins of Christianity: Recognition that Christians need to acknowledge past actions that do not meet their stated values”
“We are all complicit: Wittingly or Unwittingly, just by virtue of being a privileged American”
“Rooted in our own tribe and still being focused on universal values”
“Civil religion and Robert Bellah: A nation breaking its own covenant with its own values”
“Capitalism, Democracy and Participatory Socialism: Seeking a Just economy”
All postings will include highlights from my favorite conversation partners with links to their contributions.
My plan is to only post when I feel I have something to say that would be helpful to the national conversation going on or to pass on insights from others whose voice needs to be heard. It is hard to pay attention to so many daily posts and then to try to absorb them for responsible action at this Bonhoeffer moment. I do not want to add to the massive daily postings whether they are done for good intentions or self-justifications.
Also, I do not plan to offer a paid subscription option, like many Substack postings. I want independent intellectuals to survive financially. But I do not want to limit, at this moment, any access to ideas and insights that can help us understand our world today and craft a responsible response at any level of engagement. This is a Bonhoeffer moment.
A simple request, as you receive my posts, beginning with this one, if you wish to receive future postings, hit the “subscribe” button. I promise to send a posting no more than a couple of times a month at the most. You can unsubscribe at any time. Also, do feel comfortable adding your voice to the conversation, either by posing in the comment section or contacting me directly. I value your insights and want to learn from you. Our collective voices will make a difference.
Here are a few voices I recommend and no doubt many of you are already aware of them. I list one of their postings to give you a flavor of their views and the field of ideas they cover. Some are Substack links which have paid subscriptions options but also a free option. Some are YouTube video sites. Recommend your favorite resource site. I will start with my top 10 sites:
Keeping Current on Politics and the Activities of the Trump Administration
1.Heather Cox Richardson (Historian and Public Intellectual)
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/two-speeches?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
2.Robert Reich (Professor, Public Intellectual and former head of the US Labor Department)
I suggest this second Reich post for it will be a good introduction to my next post on AI. It is very chatty at first but the whole conversation is substantive and timely.
3.The Borowitz Repot (Comedian but with deep analysis)
Religious Viewpoints
4.Jewish Currents (Progressive Jewish Voice)
5.Bishop Marianne Budde (Episcopal Bishop of Washington DC and Inaugural Robert Bellah lecturer)
6.Donald Heinz (Pastor and former Academci Dean)
7.Ted Peters (Professor at the Graduate Theological Union)
8.Tripp Fuller (Already cited in first post)
Environmentalist and Anti-Materialist Scholar, Posts on Science and Religion
9.Robert Traer (Author and Activists)
Robert Bellah lecturer for Fall 2026
10.Eddie Glaude (Princeton Professor, Public Intellectual, MSMBC commentator)
I will add other perspectives in future posts and utilize the above resources on occasion in my future posts.
Recommend your favorite resource site!
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