I quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer to a friend the other day. Bonhoeffer stood up to the Nazis and perished for it in a concentration camp. He is celebrated (pictured on the right) as a 20th Century martyr in Westmister Abbey. A Christian theologian and a man of obvious moral courage, Bonhoeffer argued – like Kierkegaard before … Continue reading Bonhoeffer
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“From the moment in our lives at which we learn to speak we are taught that what we say must be true. What is meant by “telling the truth”? What does it demand of us? In the first place it is our parents who regulate our relation to themselves by this demand for truthfulness; but … Continue reading Ain’t that the truth
casuistry (kazjʊɪstri) noun: the resolving of moral problems by the application of theoretical rules. As I continue my voyage through Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics, I also continue to be astonished by the man. Limpid paragraphs of dense and pure meaning, sweeping historical context – and tub thumping Christianity. A heady mix. But the page which stuck … Continue reading Concrete or Casuistry?
The horrors of the 1930s and 40s seem far more than a lifetime away. But they aren’t. Accompanied by the flicker of black and white, the terrifying demagogues of the 20th century now seem like exaggerated fiction. But they weren’t. In his Ethics, Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes the era: “Rarely perhaps has any generation shown so … Continue reading History
I shared Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Stations on the road to freedom” with an old friend this week. I bought a copy of Bonhoeffer’s Ethics, when I was searching for a famous quotation – which is actually by Martin Niemöller. Niemöller was arrested in 1937 by the Nazi authorities and survived first Sachsenhausen and then Dachau concentration camps. … Continue reading Stations on the road to Freedom
Achilles & Aristotle 