Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, << BON hohf ur, DEE trihk >> (1906-1945), was a German theologian whose strong opposition to Nazism cost him his life. His faith and heroism, even more than his ideas, made him one of the most influential Christian philosophers born since 1900.
Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau on Feb. 4, 1906. He studied religion in Berlin and New York City. After returning home as a Lutheran pastor in 1931, he wrote some books and began to earn a reputation as a scholar. In 1933, Adolf Hitler became dictator of Germany. That year, Bonhoeffer left to serve as a pastor in London. He returned to Germany in 1935 to direct a seminary of the Confessing Church. The church opposed Nazi racism and helped Jews escape from Germany. After the Nazis closed his seminary, Bonhoeffer became a German military intelligence agent. He secretly used this post to spread information about the resistance movement against Hitler. In 1943, the Nazis found Bonhoeffer guilty of conspiracy. They hanged him on April 9, 1945.
Letters and diaries that Bonhoeffer wrote in prison were published in Prisoner for God (1951). In this book, he said churches were no longer vital because they had not condemned Nazism. He advocated a “religionless Christianity” that could preserve Christian values without the ideas of a supernatural God.
