Although Dietrich Bonhoeffer only lived for thirty-nine years, his impact on the world is still felt to this day. Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau, the largest city in what is now western Poland, on February 4, 1906, and a few seconds later, his twin sister Sabine was born (Kelly and Nelson, 3). Ever since he was born, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was essentially destined to have an impact on the world in which he lived. He was the third youngest child, and youngest male, of eight children born to Karl and Paula Bonhoeffer (Kelly and Nelson, 3). As the youngest male, Bonhoeffer understood that he needed to stand out to have an impact. Geffrey Kelly and F. Burton Nelson wrote that, “The father held high expectations for every child of the family, almost as if it were his inherent duty to help them fulfill the potential they had been given” (Kelly and Nelson, 4). Both of Bonhoeffer’s parents had an impact on his life, but it was his mother Paula who “provided the motivation and encouragement for a foundational religious climate” (Kelly and Nelson, 4). Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived his life with ethics being his primary motivating factor, for not only his own individual prosperity, but also the prosperity of others as well.
Growing up, the Bonhoeffer family was not frequent churchgoers “in the sense that they were active members and participated in the life of a congregation…the family, however, had no desire to shirk the bourgeois German church customs” (Bethge, 35). Essentially, the family engaged in only what was necessary to be considered members of the Church, but still stressed the importance of having the religious outlet in life. Dietrich, on the other hand, was extremely interested in religious life; he chose to dedicate his life to the p...
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...tion was destroyed” (Bethge, 780). After being in custody for almost two years, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed on April 9th, 1945, and his last words were, “this is the end—for me the beginning of life” (Bethge, 927).
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most influential and thoughtful theologians of the twentieth century. Whether it was his unparalleled motivation to follow his heart and fulfill his dream of being a theologian, or traveling to numerous countries to follow his academic intrigue, Bonhoeffer was a truly interesting and well-versed man. His anti-Nazism views during the height of the movement provide people of faith with a voice with whom they could relate and confide. His knack for perseverance, dedication, and ethical action is something in which all people should look up towards to this very day. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a theologian unlike any other.
Walter Rauschenbusch is widely regarded are a great American theological leader who is regarded as the founder of the social gospel movement in America, that transformed the church and the society in general . His main belief was that religion was not an individual activity or a phenomenon that affected only a single person. Instead, he believed that religion affected the entire society and therefore, the impetus for social reform and raising one’s voice against any sort of social evils or injustice should also come under the ambit of religion and church1. In this write-up an attempt is made to understand the religious philosophies of Walter Rauschenbusch and elaborate his principles of the social gospel movement. The Social Gospel movement also had a significant impact on the Protestant stream of thought prevalent in America .
“Understand Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Mission.” The Holocaust Research Project Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2014
Rauschenbusch has introduced many new ideas into the theological point of view. He still uses many of the same ideas of the “old theology”, but has just made some important changes to add his own thoughts on what theology should be about and how it should be used to influence people’s daily lives throughout the world. Rauschenbusch says,
Elizer’s personal account of the holocaust does not merely highlight the facts of the holocaust: millions suffered and the event was politically and religiously motivated, but provides an in depth investigation to what a person endured mentally, physically, and emotionally. Beginning as a teenager, Elizer thought highly of God and of his own beliefs, however, that quickly diminished when he was put into a system of sorting and killing people. During the holocaust, Elizer was not the only person to change; almost everyone suffered and changed differently. The stressful and harsh times affected Elizer just as they affected the person working next to him in the factory. Elizer quickly began to question everything “I pinched myself: Was I still alive? Was I awake? How was it possible that men, women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent?” (Wiesel 32). Although Elizer forms this mentality, he also finds the will to survive, to protect his father, and to not turn into the people that were aro...
When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.” (Moore) While living in brutal conditions, Wiesel did everything he could for himself and others. He prayed almost four times a day for the ending of the holocaust. Fighting through starvation, Wiesel was never selfish and continuously worked to help other Jews escape. While helping others, Wiesel was still a young man with hope to escape himself and tell his stories to the world.
Wiesel and his father were harshly testing their bond as a family during the progression of their stay. It is remarkable how such appalling conditions can bring people together in ways unimaginable. Before Wiesel came, he never did much regarding his father. While they were at the camp, Wiesel couldn’t stand being without his father. Wiesel is surprised to see how the camp changed his father. He recalls on how one of the first nights at the camp, he saw his father cry for the first time. Wiesel’s relationship with his father has been so impactful on
In those days, I fully believed that the salvation of the world depended on every one of my deeds, on every one of my prayers” ( ). Wiesel even wanted to study the Cabala at the age of twelve; his father, however, wouldn’t allow it. Wiesel spent twelve years of his life building up his faith, but it only took a year inside the concentration camps to tear it down. Even before he arrived at the camps, his faith started to wither away slowly “I looked at my house in which I had spent years seeking my God. Yet I felt sadness.... ...
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born on February 4th 1906, as a son of a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Berlin. Throughout his early life he was an outstanding student, and when he finally reached the age of 25 he became a lecturer in systematic theology at the University Berlin. Something that is very striking is that when Hitler came to power in 1933, Bonhoeffer became a leading spokesman for the Confessing Church, the center of Protestant resistance to the Nazis. He organized and for a shot amount of time he led the underground seminary of the Confessing Church. His book Life Together describes the life of the Christian community in that seminary, and his book The Cost Of Discipleship attacks what he calls "cheap grace," meaning that grace used as an excuse for moral laxity.
A fifteen-year old boy, Elie Wiesel, and his family are overwhelmed by the thought of uncertainty when they are forced out of their home; as a result, the family would be forced into a cattle car and shipped to Auschwitz. At first, the Jews have a very optimistic outlook while in
‘Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done’” (Wiesel 91). The topic of a father and son relationship is extremely personal to Wiesel, which makes him hark back to how he was raised: religiously. Though clouded with a sense of reality from his experience in the camps, Wiesel still has hints of hope in his view of the world from his upbringing in Sighet. Thus, our upbringing affects much of the way we see the
Eliezer Wiesel loses his faith in god, family and humanity through the experiences he has from the Nazi concentration camp.
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness,” Desmond Tutu once said (“Desmond Tutu Quotes”). During the Holocaust, the Jews were treated very badly but some managed to stay hopeful through this horrible time. The book Parallel Journeys by Eleanor Ayer shows how Helen Waterford and Alfons Heck who had two very different stories but managed to stay hopeful. Helen was a Jew who went into hiding for awhile before being taken away from her family and being sent to a concentration camp. Alfons was a member of the Hitler Youth where he became the youngest member of the German air force. To him, Hitler was everything and he would die any day for him and his country. As for Helen, Hitler was the man ruining her life. The Holocaust was horrible to live through but some managed to survive because of the hope they contained.
This idea of individual guilt was also present early on in Bonhoeffer’s career, which can be seen clearly in Discipleship where he writes, “Jesus’ call to discipleship makes the disciple into a single individual. Whether disciples want to or not, they have to make a decision; each has to decide alone. Each must follow alone.” It is in Ethics, however, that Bonhoeffer articulates the idea of the corporate guilt of the church for failing to embody Christ:
Though his experiences in the concentration camps, Elie Wiesel has developed the belief that everyone should be an upstander and not stand silently as people are hurt. This can be seen in his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance speech years after the end of the Holocaust and the publishing of Night, “that the world did know and
During the destructive and apprehensive time of the Holocaust, one man accentuated happiness for the children in his orphanage. Janusz Korczak would let the children color on his bald head with crayons, and when the children lost their teeth, he would collect them and use them to build a toy castle. Known as a children’s writer, educator, and hero, Janusz Korczak showed leadership throughout the tragic event known as the Holocaust. Janusz Korczak had an unique early life compared to other children. He always tried to be decorous and positive throughout the Nazi Era. Korczak was memorialized because of his fearlessness. Indeed, Janusz Korczak displayed courage and determination throughout his life.