21. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Discipleship for the Common Good, with Brant Himes

Brant Himes is the author of For a Better Worldliness: Abraham Kuyper, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Discipleship for the Common Good.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life is an incredibly powerful story. The son of a German psychiatrist in an aristocratic family in the early 20th century, Bonhoeffer made the unlikely decision to study theology. In so doing, Bonhoeffer encountered a Jesus who revolutionized his life and would not let go of him.

Brant Himes and I talk about Bonhoeffer’s understanding of discipleship and how that understanding not only shaped the way he trained pastors, but also led him to conspire against Adolf Hitler—a conspiracy that ultimately failed and led to his execution.

THIS EPISODE’S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

• Brant Himes is the author of For a Better Worldliness: Kuyper, Bonhoeffer, and Discipleship for the Common Good.
• Brant Himes is the Assistant Professor of Humanities for Los Angeles Pacific University (part of the Azusa Pacific University system). He is also the Managing Editor for Resonance Journal.
• The most formative book Brant Himes has ever read is Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship. Brant explains why the English title was changed from The Cost of Discipleship to simply Discipleship.
• The first half of For a Better Worldliness focuses on Abraham Kuyper, whom Brant and Markus discuss in Episode 15 of Spiritual Life and Leadership. The title of Episode 15 is “Abraham Kuyper and Discipleship for the Common Good.”
• As the Nazis took control of Germany, he felt the need to establish underground training centers for pastors.
• There was a strong emphasis on spiritual disciplines and spiritual formation in Bonhoeffer’s seminaries.
• The danger of the Nazi influence was a catalyst for the way Bonhoeffer trained pastors.
• Brant Himes explains three key concepts in Bonhoeffer’s writings—“theology of life” (God is over all of life, even the painful parts), “this-worldliness” (God is not far removed from us; God is present in all aspects of our life and the world), and “God of the gaps” (the purpose of God is not merely to fill in the gaps in our understanding; God is Lord over all of life).
• Brant Himes’ definition of discipleship: Discipleship is the response to the call to follow-after Jesus Christ in all aspect of human life and endeavor, from the inner personal disciplines to the deliberate shaping of culture—in the very midst of the world.

RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:

• For a Better Worldliness, by Brant Himes
• Books by Dietrich Bonhoeffer 
  • Discipleship
  • Life Together
  • Ethics
  • Reader’s Edition Collection (Discipleship, Ethics, Letters and Papers from Prison, Life Together)

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