86 members of the family of German WWII martyr theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer have issued a protest against the co-option of his name in the work of US-based controversial evangelical writer Eric Metaxas and political campaigners. A quick backgrounder on Bonhoeffer from the Centre for Public Christianity is here.
We are horrified to see how the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is increasingly being distorted and misused by right-wing extremists, xenophobes, and religious agitators. As direct descendants of the seven siblings of the theologian and resistance fighter executed by the Nazis, we can testify based on what we learned from our families that he was a peace-loving, freedom-loving humanitarian. Never would he have seen himself associated with far-right, violent movements such as Christian Nationalists and others who are trying to appropriate him today. On the contrary, he would have strongly and loudly condemned these attitudes.
A key figure in this abuse is Eric Metaxas, whose 2010 biography of Bonhoeffer was first published in the United States and sold more than a million copies in 20 languages. In the book, he ignored the historical context and misrepresented Bonhoeffer as a fundamentalist Evangelical. Metaxas, now a right-wing Trump supporter, regularly compares US President Biden to Hitler, speaks of ‘total war’ and posts photos of a gun on a Bible: “So we can now finally clearly see that Biden is our Hitler. In 1933-34. See my Bonhoeffer book for details. The parallels are staggering and increasingly obvious. Pray for this nation. PRAY.” The right-wing evangelical production company Angel Studios has secured the rights to a new Bonhoeffer movie, and this is now their advertisement on X: “The battle against tyranny begins now. Watch Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin”. The accompanying image shows Dietrich Bonhoeffer holding a gun. The history-distorting biopic, which turns Bonhoeffer into an evangelical saint, is scheduled to hit theaters shortly after the U.S. presidential election.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was not a lone fighter. The Bonhoeffer family was a tight-knit unit and worked together closely during this time. Dietrich’s brother Klaus and his brothers-in-law Hans von Dohnanyi and Rüdiger Schleicher were executed for their resistance activities, just like Dietrich. They were driven by the search for truth, honesty, humanity and the struggle for freedom, the rule of law and democracy. They repudiated religious zealotry, nationalism, militarism, and blind obedience. Those who invoke Dietrich Bonhoeffer to justify anti-democratic, xenophobic aspirations are either misinformed or malicious.
The tasteless trivialization of Bonhoeffer’s legacy has encouraged this misuse: he was a complex thinker who was primarily concerned with ethical issues. Unlike the majority of Germans, he did not turn a blind eye to the disenfranchisement, oppression, and mass murder that took place under Nazi dictatorship. His quotes have been taken out of context and reduced to set pieces for all kinds of occasions. More recently, they have increasingly been used by many whose intentions are diametrically opposed to Bonhoeffer’s thoughts and actions; ranging from Project 2025 – the Heritage Foundation’s proposed program for Trump–to the German right-wing extremist Björn Höcke.
In a recent statement, theologians and historians who have studied Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his environment, have again spoken out against this appropriation. We are grateful for this. We descendants can bear witness to the attitude passed on in the family. We grew up listening to frequent talk and debate about resistance to National Socialism, its motives and consequences. At a time when intolerance, antisemitism and other forms of racism and xenophobia, nationalism and authoritarianism are on the rise around the world, we believe it is important to clarify publicly: Dietrich Bonhoeffer fought narrow-mindedness, oppression, and exclusion throughout his life. The abuse of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s legacy by Christian Nationalists and others is of such cynicism that we are unlikely to convince these demagogues. But we call on American voters in particular: Do not be deceived. Look carefully at history. Only by working together, in the spirit of freedom and concern for others, will we be
able to solve our problems. This is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer stands for.
October 17, 2024: 86 of exactly 100 adult descendants of the Bonhoeffer siblings have signed this document:
Christoph Bayer, Cornelius Bayer, Justus Bayer, Dietrich Bethge, Gabriele Bode née Bethge, Leon Bode, Phillip Bode, Sebastian Bode, Georg Bonhoeffer, Golda Sophia Bonhoeffer, Hannah Bonhoeffer, Jan Bonhoeffer, Jona Juliane Bonhoeffer, Julia Bonhoeffer, Lina Bonhoeffer, Mathias Bonhoeffer, Moritz Bonhoeffer, Myriam Bonhoeffer, Nathan Bonhoeffer, Philipp Bonhoeffer, Sebastian Bonhoeffer, Tobias Bonhoeffer, Walter Bonhoeffer, Christian-Dietrich Bracher, Dorothee Bracher née Schleicher, Bruna Luise Casagrande née Bütler, Babette von Dohnanyi, Christoph von Dohnányi, Johannes von Dohnanyi, Justus von Dohnanyi, Klaus von Bonhoeffer-Nachkommen Dohnanyi, Olga von Dohnanyi, Katja Doubek née von Dohnanyi, David Dress, Jochen Dress, Jona Dress, Klaus Rupprecht Dress, Yannik Dress, Aram Franke, Milena Getto, Caspar Grossmann, Cornelie Grossmann née Bonhoeffer, Cornelius Grossmann, Fabian Grossmann, Johannes Grossmann, Jonathan Grossmann, Tabea Sophie Grossmann, Sophie Hein née Roehrig, Svenja Hilpert née Grossmann, Katharina Kennemann née Bode, Lorenz Kennemann, Lukas Kennemann, Charlotte Korenke, Christoph Korenke, Clara Korenke, David Korenke, Jakob Korenke, Jonas Korenke, Ruben Korenke, Theresa Korenke, Tobias Korenke, Sarah McHardy, Vincent McHardy, Sabine Moffet née Bethge, Jessica Moffet-Rose, Constanze Müller née Bonhoeffer, Helen Müller, Caroline Müller-Hofstede, Cornelie Müller-Hofstede née Korenke, Luise Müller-Hofstede, Theresa Pennington-Schleicher, Dorothee Röhrig née Bayer, Andreas Schleicher, Johannes Schleicher, Katharina Schleicher, Ruggero Schleicher Tappeser, Jakob Schmidt, Johanna Schmidt, AnnaMagdalena Schneider, Benjamin Schneider, David Soin Tappeser, Johanna Sydow, Julia Sydow, Ursula Sydow née Schleicher, Valentin Tappeser, David Zahn.
A number of Dietrich Bonhoeffer scholars have also protested the “public distortion of his life and witness”
From Project 2025 to violent political rhetoric, the legacy of German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer is being invoked this election season on behalf of Christian Nationalism. It is a dangerous and grievous misuse of his theology and life. As an international group of Bonhoeffer scholars, we warn against it.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was executed on orders from Hitler in April of 1945. Today his life and work are increasingly used to promote political violence and to make false and menacing equations between our present time and the totalitarian Nazi regime. These dangerous narratives are cause for our deep concern. We, the undersigned, are scholars and church leaders from the United States and Germany who want to bring this misappropriation of Bonhoeffer to your attention for the sake of the common good. We represent many colleagues who share our concerns.
In the United States, this dangerous rhetoric and the weaponization of Dietrich Bonhoeffer are most prevalent among those who also espouse Christian Nationalism. Christian Nationalism uses the symbols and language of Christian faith to gain power and control over others. While it is not unique to the United States, the virulence of American-style Christian Nationalism was on full display in 2021, during the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. That day showed that American Christian Nationalists do not shy away from violence in their contempt for their political opponents and our democratic institutions.
In fact, January 6th illustrated American Christian Nationalists’ disdain for the very idea of a democratic system marked by a peaceful transfer of power. Today, they continue to use hyperbolic rhetoric to equate political opponents with Nazi perpetrators and to portray their own militant actions as on par with resistance to the National Socialist reign of terror. They misuse Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s resistance against that regime to serve their own political agendas and appeals to violence, but they should not.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer promoted justice and care for the neighbor, especially those who are suffering. He recognized the dangers of Christian Nationalism and spoke against it as early as 1930. In a sermon in New York, he warned that Christians should never forget that they have brothers and sisters not only in their own people, but in every people. If the people of God were united, he proclaimed, “no nationalism, no hate of races or classes could execute its designs, and then the world would have peace forever and ever.”
Even Bonhoeffer’s own words have not stopped a public distortion of his life and witness. We write with three striking examples.
First, since the publication of his Bonhoeffer biography in 2010 until now, Eric Metaxas has manipulated the Bonhoeffer story to support Christian Nationalism. He has developed and inserted his distorted use of Bonhoeffer into public discourse, for example, at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2012, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in 2016, on his radio show, at the “Jericho March” preceding the attack on the US Capitol, in his comparison of violent offenders who stormed the US Capitol to Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemoeller, and other Nazi resisters, as well as in his latest book, Religionless Christianity: God’s Answer to Evil (2024) and his incessant social media posts – including one that features a gun atop a Bible. This portrayal glorifies violence and draws inappropriate analogies between our political system and that of Nazi Germany. It is a dangerous misuse of Bonhoeffer’s life and lessons, particularly in this election season in the United States.
Second, The Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Project, also known as “Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project,” produced by The Heritage Foundation, is nothing short of a blueprint for transforming the United States into an authoritarian state. Remarkably, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s name is invoked and his theological idea of “cheap grace” is used prominently in the Foreword of the document to discredit protection of refugees and care for the environment. This perfidious appropriation of Bonhoeffer is a cheap trick and should be recognized as such.
Third, in November, a movie titled, Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin, distributed by Angel Studios, will be released. It promises to be the “true, untold story” of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “a man who preached love while plotting the assassination of an evil tyrant.” Angel Studios makes the connection to the present explicit in its advertising, saying the film “begs the question, how far will you go to stand up for what’s right?” In the current, highly polarized political climate of the United States, these are dangerous words underscored by the equally dangerous and patently false poster images of Bonhoeffer carrying a gun. The outcome of the election could be met with an unprecedented wave of violence. Any attempt to invoke Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his resistance against Hitler as a reason to engage in political violence in our contemporary context must be strongly opposed. Moreover, while Bonhoeffer supported the coup, he refused to offer a Christian or theological justification for it. He understood the dangers of such a rationale.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer himself provides the best defense against these misuses of his life and work. He did not ask, “how far will you go?” He did not ask, “is this a Bonhoeffer moment?” Bonhoeffer’s life was defined by the question, “Who is Christ for us today?” With this question, Bonhoeffer teaches us that Christ is to be found in the presence and suffering of the neighbor, whether across the street or across the border. With this question, he has inspired Christians and non-Christians around the world to work for a society based on solidarity and humanity.
Famously, Bonhoeffer insisted that we adopt a “view from below” that calls us “to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed and reviled, in short from the perspective of the suffering.” This perspective is another reason it is so important to refrain from false and trivializing equations of present difficulties with the atrocities associated with Nazi terrorism and the horrors of the Holocaust. This insight is imperative for understanding Bonhoeffer’s relevance in the current context.
In the weeks and months ahead, especially in the United States, division and disunity promise to be the currency of public engagement. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s words and witness will be used to pit one side against the other, to fight “evil,” to put “America First,” and to justify violence. The misalignment between these views and actions and Bonhoeffer’s own cannot be overstated. When you hear these grievous misuses, and you will, do not be fooled.
Signed,
Lori Brandt Hale, President, International Bonhoeffer Society, English Language Section
Florian Höhne, President, International Bonhoeffer Society, German Language Section
Victoria J. Barnett, General Editor of the English Edition of Bonhoeffer’s Works
Wolfgang Huber, General Editor of the German Edition of Bonhoeffer’s Works
Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Founder, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Research Center for Public Theology at the University of Bamberg
Marcia J. Bunge, Bernhardson Distinguished Chair of Lutheran Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College
Stephen R. Haynes, Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College
Arnd Henze, Journalist, Publicist, and Theologian