Bonhoeffer’s understanding of state-church relationship in context

A man imbued with unfathomable passion and belief in Christ confronts a merciless regime, which he believed has acted beyond the bounds of divine mandates. His confrontation of this regime was relentless until the regime condemned him to the sword. The understanding of Bonhoeffer’s church-state rela...

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Main Author: Stephen Phiri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:Cogent Arts & Humanities
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2025.2456341
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author Stephen Phiri
author_facet Stephen Phiri
author_sort Stephen Phiri
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description A man imbued with unfathomable passion and belief in Christ confronts a merciless regime, which he believed has acted beyond the bounds of divine mandates. His confrontation of this regime was relentless until the regime condemned him to the sword. The understanding of Bonhoeffer’s church-state relationship as expressed in one of his iconic books ‘Ethics’ is a response to the gross violation by Hitler when he failed to justly rule the government mandate and further his imposition of policy on the church with the objective of promoting his tyrannical agenda. This article seeks to understand Bonhoeffer’s church and state model through his existential circumstances of Adolf Hitler’s reign. It uses literature reviewed on both Bonhoeffer’s primary writings such as ‘Ethics’ and secondary sources that sought to comment and give an analysis of his thoughts. The article highlights the unique and radical position of Bonhoeffer’s theo-political stance over both the Barmen declaration and efforts made by the Confession church.
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spelling doaj-art-075ab60771134046959d244abf4ce1e72025-01-27T08:27:38ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Arts & Humanities2331-19832025-12-0112110.1080/23311983.2025.2456341Bonhoeffer’s understanding of state-church relationship in contextStephen Phiri0Johannesburg Institute for Advance Study (JIAS), University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South AfricaA man imbued with unfathomable passion and belief in Christ confronts a merciless regime, which he believed has acted beyond the bounds of divine mandates. His confrontation of this regime was relentless until the regime condemned him to the sword. The understanding of Bonhoeffer’s church-state relationship as expressed in one of his iconic books ‘Ethics’ is a response to the gross violation by Hitler when he failed to justly rule the government mandate and further his imposition of policy on the church with the objective of promoting his tyrannical agenda. This article seeks to understand Bonhoeffer’s church and state model through his existential circumstances of Adolf Hitler’s reign. It uses literature reviewed on both Bonhoeffer’s primary writings such as ‘Ethics’ and secondary sources that sought to comment and give an analysis of his thoughts. The article highlights the unique and radical position of Bonhoeffer’s theo-political stance over both the Barmen declaration and efforts made by the Confession church.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2025.2456341BonheofferChurch and StateNazi-HitlerGerman Evangelical ChurchConfession ChurchAryan Paragraph
spellingShingle Stephen Phiri
Bonhoeffer’s understanding of state-church relationship in context
Cogent Arts & Humanities
Bonheoffer
Church and State
Nazi-Hitler
German Evangelical Church
Confession Church
Aryan Paragraph
title Bonhoeffer’s understanding of state-church relationship in context
title_full Bonhoeffer’s understanding of state-church relationship in context
title_fullStr Bonhoeffer’s understanding of state-church relationship in context
title_full_unstemmed Bonhoeffer’s understanding of state-church relationship in context
title_short Bonhoeffer’s understanding of state-church relationship in context
title_sort bonhoeffer s understanding of state church relationship in context
topic Bonheoffer
Church and State
Nazi-Hitler
German Evangelical Church
Confession Church
Aryan Paragraph
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2025.2456341
work_keys_str_mv AT stephenphiri bonhoeffersunderstandingofstatechurchrelationshipincontext