Bonhoeffer the Academic Theologian

Abstract

Bonhoeffer was not only a spiritual mentor and political resistor but even more so an academic theologian. Not only did he write more academic than spiritual works, but he was also actively involved in the teaching of theology, primarily at the University of Berlin and as director of the underground seminary in Finkenwalde. Bonhoeffer attempted to articulate ‘genuine theological concepts’ that would adequately capture the reality of fallen humanity in the one reality of the world in Christ. Based on rigorous exegesis and theological interpretation of biblical texts, he articulated his basic theological category, namely that of Christology, as the centre of this theology from which he developed all other theological topoi including church and ethics.