Contradicting the world
Bonhoeffer’s reading of Romans 13 amounts to a total repudiation of the usual ways of reading that passage, both now and during the rise of National Socialism, but he makes it seem like the most natural thing in the world. His uniqueness has only to do with the fact that he reads Romans 13 as part of Paul’s total perspective, and more importantly as one part of the total New Testament witness to Christ. Here’s how he sums up the ‘worldly politics’ of the church-community in Discipleship (p. 244):
Christians are to remain in the world, not because of the God-given goodness of the world, nor even because of their responsibility for the course the world takes. They are to remain in the world solely for the sake of the body of the Christ who became incarnate—for the sake of the church-community. They are to remain in the world in order to engage the world in a frontal assault. Let them “live out their vocation in this world” in order that their “unworldliness” might become fully visible. But this can take place only through visible membership in the church-community. The world must be contradicted within the world. That is why Christ became a human being and died in the midst of his enemies. It is for this reason—and this reason alone!—that slaves are to remain slaves, and Christians are to remain subject to authority.
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Tags: Dietrich Bonhoeffer,Ecclesiology,Political Theology
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Contradicting the World
I like the twist he gives it but that last line troubles me a bit—I suppose I’ve had my head stuck in too much liberation/feminist/womanist theology in the past few years to wholly agree. Anyway, just swinging by to say hello, and also—I love Coeur de Pirate.
I also like the quote, and also find the last line bothersome.
I wonder how that last statement (particularly the interjection “and this reason alone!”) can cohere with Paul’s implication that at least one reason to be subject to authority is simply that it is “what God has instituted.” It is a bit too paradoxical, even for a German, to say that God instituted these things for no reason other than to undermine them.
Nevertheless I find the general thrust of the quote compelling. It questions who we are living for – ourselves, or God and others? We often think about subjection to authority and related concepts in terms of our own rights. We rarely ask questions about the good we might be able to do in imperfect circumstances that we wouldn’t be able to do outside of them.