Amazing words spoken by Dietrich Bonhoeffer on August 29, 1932 - 90 years ago, but just as pertinent today, as the Russian Orthodox Patriarch and several other Orthodox hierarchs in Russia and elsewhere continue to support and even promote Putin's illegal and criminal war against Ukraine. Note especially his statement: "The church forsakes obedience whenever …
The church knows only one totality
In a previous post I outlined some thoughts Karl Barth offered at a gathering in 1962 and which constitute one chapter of the book, Barth in Conversation. He was asked to say something about the church in a totalitarian state, such as existed in 1962 in East Germany and other countries behind the Iron Curtain. …
The Cross is not a political slogan
Living in Montreal and two other Canadian cities in the 1970s I became aware of the politics that ruled the Greek Orthodox churches in Canada. As a matter of fact, it came to the point, at least in Montreal, that the Hellenic Community administration that governed all the Greek churches of Montreal was split along …
God of the gaps is no God
I love reading from Bonhoeffer's writings, especially in the series of the complete works in English translations put out by Fortress Press. Bonhoeffer is perhaps best known for his "Letters and Papers from Prison," written between April 1943 (when he was arrested for conspiring against Hitler) and January 1945, three months before he was executed …
How shall we pray?
“Lord, teach us to pray!” the disciples asked of Jesus. Why? They were Jews, they were taught to pray three times a day. Why were they asking? Perhaps because they felt something new was happening. Jesus was not like the Pharisees or the priests. He was teaching a new way, so they wanted to pray …
Ancient Answers 