Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Ethics

In Dietrich Bonhoeffer's (1955) Ethics, we are privy to the author's depiction of Nazi Germany. In the book, Bonhoeffer provides a philosophical discussion of the relationship between the individual's duty to self and the state. For his resistance to Nazism, Bonhoeffer was imprisoned and lost his life, unable to finish Ethics completely. However, his discussion of ethics focuses on the complex issue for the individual for determining when he or she has a higher duty to follow God's law than state law. This knowledge of when to obey God over all is the only way to connect with others, "It is only in the unity of his knowledge of God that he knows of other men, of things, and of himself" (Bonhoeffer, 1955, p. 21). Despite the complexity of the issue, Bonhoeffer contends that he was acting out of faithfulness to God in his resistance to Nazism more than those who obeyed the corrupt state.

One of Bonhoeffer's main contentions is that his resistance to Nazi authority exhibits much greater moral clarity than the actions of Germans who worshipped and obeyed the state without question. Bonhoeffer contends that Luther's doctrine of two kingdoms helps explain the blind obedience to the state exhibited by many Germans. For Luther argued that the state and its rules are required to help undermine man's capacity for evil. Luther encouraged believers to faithfully obey the state and its rules unless they were forced to deny their faith. As such, Bonhoeffe

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Category: Philosophy - D