The Meaning of the Church’s Being in the World: Re-reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics

The Meaning of the Church's Being in the World: Re-reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Ethics

April Nok-Yan LAM

The objective of this article is to provide a way of reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Ethics and shed light on his understanding of the church's role in the world. Rather than solely examining the book, this article will take into consideration his earlier writings, such as his Sanctorum Communio and Discipleship, in order to provide a more comprehensive perspective.

The discussion comprises three main parts. The first part delves into Bonhoeffer's interpretation of Jesus Christ, which serves as the foundation of his entire theological thinking. From Sanctorum Communio to Ethics, Bonhoeffer stressed the significance of Jesus Christ's incarnation, as He is the real and active vicarious representative of humanity. As the vicarious representative, Jesus Christ is being-for-us: He bears our fallen humanity and creation on His flesh, standing before God and being crucified on the cross on our behalf, and renewing humanity and creation through His resurrection. Therefore, Bonhoeffer argued that there is only one reality, which is Christ-reality, and in that reality, God is present in the world, and the The world is accepted by and united with God.

The second part discusses Bonhoeffer's interpretation of the church, in which he stressed that it is closely related to the being and the act of Jesus Christ. In Sanctorum Communio, Bonhoeffer argued that the church has a two-fold nature: on the one hand, the church-community, as the new humanity realized and actualized through Jesus Christ's vicarious representative action, is a divine reality; on the other hand, the church is also a human community, an empirical church that is actualized by God through the Holy Spirit and the word of Christ. Therefore, in essence, the church-community is created through Christ and in Christ, with Christ as its center; and it is Christ's body in the world, which means that it is a visible community in the world. This view of the church is present in both Bonhoeffer's Discipleship and Ethics.

The final part of this article focuses on Bonhoeffer's view on the church's relationship to the world. In his Ethics, Bonhoeffer stressed that the church, as the body of Christ, is conformed to the form of Jesus Christ. It is for the sake of the world. Hence, in Christ, the church is the vicarious representative to the world—it is being-for-the-world and act-for-the-world so that the world may know the will of God in Christ-reality. Although Bonhoeffer emphasized the church's being-for-the-world, it doesn't mean that he rejected the view of the church as he expressed in Discipleship, that is, being the church-community in Christ and through Christ. Rather, as he did in Sanctorum Communio, he still maintained the two-fold nature of the church, which stressed that the church is both the goal and the tool of God in the world.