What’s this about the new Bonhoeffer movie?

Are you a Bonhoeffer fan? So are we.

Rev. Deborah Hutterer, bishop of the Grand Canyon Synod, posted the info below on her Facebook page. She writes, “Yes, this is a long read, but worth the read if you are thinking about seeing the Bonhoeffer movie.”

Over the last week, a large number of Bonhoeffer scholars and Bonhoeffer family members have issued letters denouncing the misuse of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's name and writing, especially by author Eric Metaxas, who has aligned Bonhoeffer's work with Metaxas' own nationalistic and twisted "Christian" views, Project 2025, and the upcoming Bonhoeffer film.

Bonhoeffer has been a source of encouragement for many Christians and others because of his passionate commitment to viewing Christ at the center of all things, for his understanding of the gift and challenge of life in community, and for his willingness to speak openly against the rise of Hitler and Nazism. Some Christians find his words to be a source of encouragement to speak out against the threat of authoritarianism in the United States. Others have been misusing his words to support political violence, such as the kind we saw on display at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, and threats of violence as we enter into the upcoming election.

From the letter: "Bonhoeffer’s life was defined by the question, “Who is Christ for us today?” With this question, Bonhoeffer teaches us that Christ is to be found in the presence and suffering of the neighbor, whether across the street or across the border. With this question, he has inspired Christians and non-Christians around the world to work for a society based on solidarity and humanity."

Here is the open letter written by numerous Bonhoeffer experts.

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Stop Misusing Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Support Political Violence and Christian Nationalism

A Petition by Lori Brandt Hale, President, International Bonhoeffer Society and signed by so many others.

From Project 2025 to violent political rhetoric, the legacy of German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer is being invoked this election season on behalf of Christian Nationalism. It is a dangerous and grievous misuse of his theology and life. As an international group of Bonhoeffer scholars, we warn against it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was executed on orders from Hitler in April of 1945. Today his life and work are increasingly used to promote political violence and to make false and menacing equations between our present time and the totalitarian Nazi regime. These dangerous narratives are cause for our deep concern. We, the undersigned, are scholars and church leaders from the United States and Germany who want to bring this misappropriation of Bonhoeffer to your attention for the sake of the common good. We represent many colleagues who share our concerns.

In the United States, this dangerous rhetoric and the weaponization of Dietrich Bonhoeffer are most prevalent among those who also espouse Christian Nationalism. Christian Nationalism uses the symbols and language of Christian faith to gain power and control over others. While it is not unique to the United States, the virulence of American-style Christian Nationalism was on full display in 2021, during the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. That day showed that American Christian Nationalists do not shy away from violence in their contempt for their political opponents and our democratic institutions.

In fact, January 6th illustrated American Christian Nationalists’ disdain for the very idea of a democratic system marked by a peaceful transfer of power. Today, they continue to use hyperbolic rhetoric to equate political opponents with Nazi perpetrators and to portray their own militant actions as on par with resistance to the National Socialist reign of terror. They misuse Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s resistance against that regime to serve their own political agendas and appeals to violence, but they should not.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer promoted justice and care for the neighbor, especially those who are suffering. He recognized the dangers of Christian Nationalism and spoke against it as early as 1930. In a sermon in New York, he warned that Christians should never forget that they have brothers and sisters not only in their own people, but in every people. If the people of God were united, he proclaimed, “no nationalism, no hate of races or classes could execute its designs, and then the world would have peace forever and ever.”

Even Bonhoeffer’s own words have not stopped a public distortion of his life and witness. We write with three striking examples.

First, since the publication of his Bonhoeffer biography in 2010 until now, Eric Metaxas has manipulated the Bonhoeffer story to support Christian Nationalism. He has developed and inserted his distorted use of Bonhoeffer into public discourse, for example, at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2012, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in 2016, on his radio show, at the “Jericho March” preceding the attack on the US Capitol, in his comparison of violent offenders who stormed the US Capitol to Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemoeller, and other Nazi resisters, as well as in his latest book, Religionless Christianity: God’s Answer to Evil (2024) and his incessant social media posts - including one that features a gun atop a Bible. This portrayal glorifies violence and draws inappropriate analogies between our political system and that of Nazi Germany. It is a dangerous misuse of Bonhoeffer’s life and lessons, particularly in this election season in the United States.

Second, The Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Project, also known as “Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project,” produced by The Heritage Foundation, is nothing short of a blueprint for transforming the United States into an authoritarian state. Remarkably, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s name is invoked and his theological idea of “cheap grace” is used prominently in the Foreword of the document to discredit protection of refugees and care for the environment. This perfidious appropriation of Bonhoeffer is a cheap trick and should be recognized as such.

Third, in November, a movie titled, Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin, distributed by Angel Studios, will be released. It promises to be the “true, untold story” of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “a man who preached love while plotting the assassination of an evil tyrant.” Angel Studios makes the connection to the present explicit in its advertising, saying the film “begs the question, how far will you go to stand up for what's right?” In the current, highly polarized political climate of the United States, these are dangerous words underscored by the equally dangerous and patently false poster images of Bonhoeffer carrying a gun. The outcome of the election could be met with an unprecedented wave of violence. Any attempt to invoke Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his resistance against Hitler as a reason to engage in political violence in our contemporary context must be strongly opposed. Moreover, while Bonhoeffer supported the coup, he refused to offer a Christian or theological justification for it. He understood the dangers of such a rationale.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer himself provides the best defense against these misuses of his life and work. He did not ask, “how far will you go?” He did not ask, “is this a Bonhoeffer moment?” Bonhoeffer’s life was defined by the question, “Who is Christ for us today?” With this question, Bonhoeffer teaches us that Christ is to be found in the presence and suffering of the neighbor, whether across the street or across the border. With this question, he has inspired Christians and non-Christians around the world to work for a society based on solidarity and humanity.

Famously, Bonhoeffer insisted that we adopt a “view from below” that calls us “to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed and reviled, in short from the perspective of the suffering.” This perspective is another reason it is so important to refrain from false and trivializing equations of present difficulties with the atrocities associated with Nazi terrorism and the horrors of the Holocaust. This insight is imperative for understanding Bonhoeffer’s relevance in the current context.

In the weeks and months ahead, especially in the United States, division and disunity promise to be the currency of public engagement. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s words and witness will be used to pit one side against the other, to fight “evil,” to put “America First,” and to justify violence. The misalignment between these views and actions and Bonhoeffer’s own cannot be overstated. When you hear these grievous misuses, and you will, do not be fooled.

Signed,

  • Lori Brandt Hale, President, International Bonhoeffer Society, English Language Section

  • Florian Höhne, President, International Bonhoeffer Society, German Language Section

  • Victoria J. Barnett, General Editor of the English Edition of Bonhoeffer's Works

  • Wolfgang Huber, General Editor of the German Edition of Bonhoeffer’s Works

  • Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Founder, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Research Center for Public Theology at the University of Bamberg

  • Marcia J. Bunge, Bernhardson Distinguished Chair of Lutheran Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College

  • Stephen R. Haynes, Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College

  • Arnd Henze, Journalist, Publicist, and Theologian

  • (and now co-signed by many, many others)

The Real Bonhoeffer

Documentaries and films that are approved by the International Bonhoeffer Society can be found here: https://bonhoeffersociety.org/2024/10/25/bonhoeffer-documentaries-and-films/

SIGN AND SHARE THE PETITION: Stop Misusing Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Support Political Violence and Christian Nationalism & UPDATE: Members of Bonhoeffer’s Extended Family Publish Open Letter Condemning the Distortion of his Legacy

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