We have not met in church, but in the lecture room. We have academic work to do…
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christ the Center).
I’ve been reading Robert Coles’ little book of writings from Bonhoeffer. Here is how Coles introduces the excerpt from Bonhoeffer about the academic work we have to do.
“In the spring of 1933 Adolph Hitler became chancellor of Germany with dictatorial powers. That summer, at the University of Berlin, Bonhoeffer delivered a series of lectures on Christology, later published as Christ the Center. The following selection comes from the introduction to that work.“
Somewhere I read that Hitler’s government was the first postmodern government in Western culture. Knowing that postmodern means “completely relativistic” – which is Protagoras’ mantra, “Man is the measure of all things” – what academic work do we Lutherans have to do in 2024 when our government and our universities that are dependent on government funding have gone postmodern?
Bonhoeffer points the way. In this introduction he goes on to say of the Nazi government,
“The authorities are bearers of the authority of a community, bearers of an office, bearers of a word.”
In American terms this sounds like a reference to “We the people” in our Constitution, but it is a reference to Romans 13 and Matthew 28 at heart, a reference to God’s ultimate authority. Bonhoeffer continues his lecture this way.
“They are not the office itself or the word itself… But what happens if someone appears with the claim that he not only has authority but is authority; not only has a word but is the word? Here our being is invaded by a new being.“
What academic work do we Lutherans have to do in our day?
Christ and His means of grace have been marginalized, cancelled, suppressed. The simple answer, following the blatant, brazen dalliance of our universities with Woke Marxism, goes something like the Afterward of Anatomy of an Implosion.
Here are a few thoughts for your prayers, your consideration, and your actions.