What a great question - I love this question. It may take a few paragraphs to answer, but I’m excited about it.
You’re right that I didn’t give much contextual alignment with Bonhoeffer, and I appreciate you catching that. I think it’s first important to understand what the Bible means by “religion.” James 1:27 defines it clearly:
“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
In essence, pure religion isn’t about rituals, appearances, or self-righteousness - it’s about compassion and integrity. It’s love in action: caring for the vulnerable and living with moral purity, refusing to let the world’s values corrupt you.
I believe Bonhoeffer rejected what religion had become in his day. He saw a church filled with rules, pride, and compromise - many even bending to the Nazi regime - and he had enough of it. He refused to fall in line with the tyrannical government and the churches that knelt to it, choosing instead obedience to God. His dissidence had an aim and a purpose - it wasn’t rebellion for rebellion’s sake, but conviction grounded in faith to God.
Bonhoeffer’s idea of “religionless Christianity” wasn’t about removing faith - it was about removing pretense. He wanted a faith stripped of empty performance, one that lived and breathed obedience to Christ in the midst of a corrupt world. His life proved that obedience to God often means standing against the systems that misuse His name.
I grew up in Baptist churches and have visited many others, and I’ve seen how easily churches can lose sight of that purpose. When religion becomes about image, comparison, or control, it slows down the believer’s walk with God and dulls their obedience to Him.
I do believe church is essential for every Christian, but I’ve also seen how easily churches can drift from the purpose God laid out in Scripture. I think that’s what Bonhoeffer was getting at - not a rejection of the Church, but a call to return to the heart of faith: obedience, compassion, and integrity before God. And he was willing to give his life for obedience to God rather than obedience to a drifted church that feared the government more than it feared God.
The context of each quote.
We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.
Bonhoeffer originally wrote this from prison reflecting on how we should see others - especially in a world full of guilt and suffering. He said instead of judging people by their actions or failures, we should look at what they have been through and the pain that shapes them.
So even though the quote is not written specifically about obedience or rebellion, it fits. A lot of people that seem to be defiant or distrustful aren’t just being difficult; they have been hurt.
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
We have to die to our own ego to discover the deeper purpose and significance of our lives are meant to hold. Bonhoeffer reminds us that true significance does not come from elevating ourselves, but from surrendering ourselves.
Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
The quote grounds the contrast- where ego seeks control, obedience accepts responsibility.
I hope this answers your question and I would be delighted to know what parts you disagree with if you would like to share.
Interesting article. Some of it I agree with. Some of it I don’t - but not out of disobedience or rebellion! Question: you’ve quoted Bonhoeffer a few times in this article - without any context. I’m curious what you think he stands for and now his dissidence and “religionless Christianity” fits into this quest for obedience? Thanks.
Thank you for this response Dalton. I can’t claim to have read the bible, but I have devoured The Jefferson Bible - and I concur with him that Jesus was one of, if not THE, greatest philosopher)s). I also concur that (what I know of) the metaphysical/supernatural bits in the bible defy logic and thus vitiate Jesus’s message - and that message is pretty much what you wrote in your response: love in action: caring for the vulnerable and living with moral purity, refusing to let the world’s values corrupt you.
My guess is that Bonhoeffer would be as appalled by US political discourse in the 2020s as he was by German political culture in the 1930s & 40s. Thanks again. Brett
What a great question - I love this question. It may take a few paragraphs to answer, but I’m excited about it.
You’re right that I didn’t give much contextual alignment with Bonhoeffer, and I appreciate you catching that. I think it’s first important to understand what the Bible means by “religion.” James 1:27 defines it clearly:
“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
In essence, pure religion isn’t about rituals, appearances, or self-righteousness - it’s about compassion and integrity. It’s love in action: caring for the vulnerable and living with moral purity, refusing to let the world’s values corrupt you.
I believe Bonhoeffer rejected what religion had become in his day. He saw a church filled with rules, pride, and compromise - many even bending to the Nazi regime - and he had enough of it. He refused to fall in line with the tyrannical government and the churches that knelt to it, choosing instead obedience to God. His dissidence had an aim and a purpose - it wasn’t rebellion for rebellion’s sake, but conviction grounded in faith to God.
Bonhoeffer’s idea of “religionless Christianity” wasn’t about removing faith - it was about removing pretense. He wanted a faith stripped of empty performance, one that lived and breathed obedience to Christ in the midst of a corrupt world. His life proved that obedience to God often means standing against the systems that misuse His name.
I grew up in Baptist churches and have visited many others, and I’ve seen how easily churches can lose sight of that purpose. When religion becomes about image, comparison, or control, it slows down the believer’s walk with God and dulls their obedience to Him.
I do believe church is essential for every Christian, but I’ve also seen how easily churches can drift from the purpose God laid out in Scripture. I think that’s what Bonhoeffer was getting at - not a rejection of the Church, but a call to return to the heart of faith: obedience, compassion, and integrity before God. And he was willing to give his life for obedience to God rather than obedience to a drifted church that feared the government more than it feared God.
The context of each quote.
We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.
Bonhoeffer originally wrote this from prison reflecting on how we should see others - especially in a world full of guilt and suffering. He said instead of judging people by their actions or failures, we should look at what they have been through and the pain that shapes them.
So even though the quote is not written specifically about obedience or rebellion, it fits. A lot of people that seem to be defiant or distrustful aren’t just being difficult; they have been hurt.
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
We have to die to our own ego to discover the deeper purpose and significance of our lives are meant to hold. Bonhoeffer reminds us that true significance does not come from elevating ourselves, but from surrendering ourselves.
Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
The quote grounds the contrast- where ego seeks control, obedience accepts responsibility.
I hope this answers your question and I would be delighted to know what parts you disagree with if you would like to share.
Thank you.
Interesting article. Some of it I agree with. Some of it I don’t - but not out of disobedience or rebellion! Question: you’ve quoted Bonhoeffer a few times in this article - without any context. I’m curious what you think he stands for and now his dissidence and “religionless Christianity” fits into this quest for obedience? Thanks.
Thank you for the comment! Dalton replied to you in a separate comment under this article.
Thank you for this response Dalton. I can’t claim to have read the bible, but I have devoured The Jefferson Bible - and I concur with him that Jesus was one of, if not THE, greatest philosopher)s). I also concur that (what I know of) the metaphysical/supernatural bits in the bible defy logic and thus vitiate Jesus’s message - and that message is pretty much what you wrote in your response: love in action: caring for the vulnerable and living with moral purity, refusing to let the world’s values corrupt you.
My guess is that Bonhoeffer would be as appalled by US political discourse in the 2020s as he was by German political culture in the 1930s & 40s. Thanks again. Brett