BONHOEFFER'S LIFE TOGETHER AND THE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY + DAN CALDWELL +1 Chair, Council on International Studies Professor of Political Science Pepperdine University In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.2 When was it that you first became aware of the power of words? What about the Word? Potentially, words, and particularly the Word, have the power to move people; to cause them to think, to commit, to act. But words can also be empty shells, as when they are uttered by someone who does not believe them or who lives a life inconsistent with them. When people who live committed lives utter striking words, the combined effect can be powerfully moving and motivating. The combined effect of Christ's words and actions is what made him one of history's most influential figures. In my life, one of the people whose words and life have most influence me is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian who lived in the first half of this century. In a sermon entitled, "The Church and the World of Nations," delivered to an international conference meeting in Fano, Denmark, in August 1934, Bonhoeffer urged his 1 listeners to send out a call for peace in the name of Christ.3 According to Bonhoeffer, Christians "may not use weapons against one another because they know that in so doing they are aiming those weapons at Christ himself."4 But living as a Christian in Nazi Germany was, Bonhoeffer wrote, analogous to a person running through the aisle in the opposite direction of a fast moving train: even though the Christian sought to go in the opposite direction from the "Nazi train-state," he was essentially going at the same speed and in the same direction as the train. Bonhoeffer concluded that active opposition to Hitler was his duty as a Christian, and he became part of the group that unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944. For his complicity in this plot, the Gestapo arrested Bonhoeffer and executed him on April 9, 1945, four days before Allied soldier liberated Berlin. Dietrich Bonhoeffer has become one of the most widely read and influential theologians of the twentieth century, and scores of books and articles have been written about Bonhoeffer and his theology. Bonhoeffer's own works are probably more widely read among laymen than any other twentieth-century theologian and include The Cost of Discipleship, Letters and Papers from Prison, and Ethics. Some scholars have focused explicitly on the transformation of Bonhoeffer from Christian pacifist to conspirator to kill Hitler.5 My attempt in this paper is unconventional and 2 heuristic. I want to focus on a two and a half year period of Bonhoeffer's life during which he was the director of a clandestine seminary with only twenty-five students. It was during this time that Bonhoeffer wrote The Cost of Discipleship and an account of his experiences with his students entitled, Life Together. Because the words in these two books and Bonhoeffer's life have influenced me greatly, I would like to attempt to relate these books to the Christian university. The great German sociologist Max Weber introduced as a methodological tool the concept of "ideal-type."6 Weber felt that social scientists "had the choice of using logically controlled and unambiguous conceptions, which are thus more removed from historical reality, or of using less precise concepts, which are more closely geared to the empirical world."7 Rather than focusing on conventional conceptions or actual examples of Christian communities, I have chosen to focus on what I consider to be an "ideal-type" Christian community, Bonhoeffer's "underground" seminary. I focus on a single question in this paper: What can we at a Christian university learn from a small community of pastors studying together in a radically different environment than our own more than half a century ago? Bonhoeffer's Life Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Brelau, Germany in 1906.8 His father was an eminent physician, and Bonhoeffer 3 grew up in Berlin where his father was a professor of psychiatry. By the time he was sixteen, Bonhoeffer knew that he wanted to study theology which he did first at Tuebingen (for only one year) and then at the University of Berlin. At age 21, Bonhoeffer presented his doctoral thesis, and in 1928, Bonhoeffer became a pastor for a German congregation in Barcelona, Spain, returning to Berlin a year later. In 1930, Bonhoeffer went to New York City to do postdoctoral study at Union Theological Seminary, which he described as "famed and esteemed s the strong-hold of criticism in America . . . a place of free discussion, made possible by the civic courage peculiar to Americans and the lack of any sort of officialism in personal relations."9 At Union, Bonhoeffer met and interacted with a number of prominent American theologians, including Reinhold Niebuhr. After a year, Bonhoeffer returned to Berlin and delivered a series of lectures in systematic theology. He also served as pastor to a group of students in Charlottenburg, a suburb of Berlin, where his sermons were very popular. In 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany, and Bonhoeffer, who had opposed Hitler's election, accepted the call of two German churches in London. It was while he was in London that Bonhoeffer immediately accepted an invitation from the German Confessing Church (which, in contrast to the state-sponsored Lutheran church, opposed Hitler) to take charge of an "illegal," clandestine seminary 4 for the education of young ministers in Pomerania, Germany. First near the small village of Zingst on the Baltic and then in the small country town of Finkenwalde near Stettin, Bonhoeffer shared his life and thoughts with a group of twenty-five young ministers. Their "life together" formed the basis of his book, Life Together, which was published in 1938. During this time, Bonhoeffer wrote The Cost of Discipleship. It was a time that Bonhoeffer recalled was "the fullest time of my life, both from the professional and from the human point of view."10 Just as a Christian university is a microcosm of the broader Christian community, Bonhoeffer's seminary was a microcosm of a Christian university. Bonhoeffer's account of the Finkenwalde seminary is a powerful description of a Christian community and contains some important guidance. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY In this book, Life Together, Bonhoeffer discusses a number of characteristics of a Christian community. I would like to present what I think are the distinctive characteristics of a Christian university community, based on what Bonhoeffer presents in his book. A Called Community The members of a Christian community are called to be there. Indeed, it is this sense of calling that motivates the members of the community to be there; those at Bonhoeffer's underground seminary could have been far more physically secure in other positions; Bonhoeffer himself had 5 had the opportunity to remain at Union Theological Seminary in New York and at his church in London, but he chose-was called-to return to Nazi Germany. Most of those at Christian colleges and universities could make more money in professions outside of academia, but the members of Christian academic communities were called to teach and to seek truth in their respective disciplines. Those at Christian colleges and universities, like Bonhoeffer's seminary students, are a called community. The concept of "calling" is both difficult and vital to understand. God acts in such a way that certain people are called to be members of a community. That is the essence of the concept of calling. It is both selective and all-encompassing. It is selective in the sense that not everyone is called to be part of the community; it is all-encompassing in that every participant in this community is a member of it. Paul's letter to the Galatians (3:26-28) is germane: "It is through faith that you are all sons of God in union with Christ Jesus. Baptized in union with him, you have all put on Christ like a garment. There is no such thing as Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, male and female; for you all are one person in Christ Jesus." The Christian community is very special, and that is undoubtedly why a number of people choose to teach at Christian institutions of higher learning. In Life Together, Bonhoeffer wrote, "This Christian community is not a spiritual sanatorium . . . Let him who cannot be alone 6 beware of community. . . . Let him who is not in community beware of being alone."11 I am struck with how much these observations about community apply to the academic life, whether for students or faculty. Much, if not most, learning goes on when a person is by him- or herself. But, the best learning cannot take place without interacting with others. There are some special attributes of community at a Christian university. The community should celebrate the core of its mission: to proclaim and celebrate the existence of the living God, Jesus Christ. Other concerns are ancillary to this, and where secondary issues are elevated to primary position, the community at large is hurt. Were there debates at Finkenwalde concerning whether grape juice or wine should be used in communion services or whether women should be allowed to lead prayers in worship services? Perhaps there were such debates, but I find it difficult to imagine that they ever eclipsed the central unifying belief of the Finkenwalde community in the importance of Christ as savior. Perhaps context makes the difference. At Finkenwalde, the members of the community faced severe punishment if they were even discovered. In the United States, most people- particularly those at Christian colleges and universities-do not face blatant oppression, although it is easy to recognize real or imaginary slights, humans being what they are. I write this not in a self-satisfied manner, but with 7 an attitude of profound gratefulness for the freedom from want and oppression that most people in America enjoy. The Ministries of the Christian Community Within the abundantly blessed Christian community, there are certain services that the members of the community can perform for one another. Bonhoeffer describes a number of these ministries which I believe are directly and vitally relevant to the Pepperdine community and should constitute additional characteristics of the Christian university community. The first ministry is what Bonhoeffer refers to as "the ministry of holding one's tongue." Real or misperceived slights often lead people to think the worst of those who perpetrated them. Of course, the next step after thinking ill of another person or group is to express those thoughts. Faculty members have been known on occasion to refer to the latest "ill-conceived" decision of "The Administration," and administrators are wont to refer to the "stubborn intransigence" of "The Faculty." This is one of the negative powers of words. Bonhoeffer advises, "Often we combat our evil thoughts most effectively if we absolutely refuse to allow them to be expressed in words. . . . [I]t must be a decisive rule of every Christian fellowship that each individual is prohibited from saying much that occurs to him. . . . to speak of a brother covertly is forbidden, even under the cloak of help and good will; for it is precisely in this guise that the spirit of hatred among 8 brothers always creeps in when it is seeking to create mischief."12 Rather than speaking and telling others what they should do, Christians need to listen to one another more carefully. I remember that when I was a student I set a quota of the number of times that I should say something, never mind whether or not I had anything to say, in discussion sections of my courses. Now, as a professor, I encourage students to participate in class discussions, and I positively reward those who do. (I do not, however, negatively penalize those students who for whatever reason do not participate, but that is another subject.) How many professors evaluate the way in which students in their courses listen? I know that I have not until the past year, and I am working on ways to encourage students to listen carefully, attentively and respectfully to what other students and I have to say. A whole approach to psychological therapy developed by Carl Rogers is based upon listening. But this modern approach was preceded 2,000 years before by the sensitive, caring listening of Jesus. In thinking about my own teaching and advising, I believe that I need to listen more frequently and more carefully. "The second service that one should perform for another in a Christian community," according to Bonhoeffer, "is that of active helpfulness."13 The teaching profession is one of helpfulness. That is what called many of us to it. But, as 9 we all know, higher education in the United States does not generally reward professors for their teaching abilities. Imagine how unusual it would be for a university to establish an endowed chair for a professor because of his or her teaching abilities. I do not know of such a chair in the United States. Thankfully, there are other important, but non-tangible rewards. I was reminded of those rewards when Bill Walsh, the former head football coach for Stanford University and then the San Francisco Forty-Niners, resigned his lucrative joy with NBC as a football commentator in order to return to Stanford as head football coach. In the news conference announcing his decision, Walsh was asked why he would take a significant pay cut in order to return to college coaching, and he replied, "The young guys we met at each one of these schools [when Walsh was commenting on college games], we met some magnificent young people. That in itself reminded me that I might be of more value somewhere other than just remarking on ten different ways on how to fumble a football on television."14 (Of course, it should be noted that even at his substantially reduced salary, Walsh will still make a reported $350,000 per year, significantly more than any professor at Stanford or anywhere else!) What drew Coach Walsh back to Stanford-and I suspect what, at least in part, draws many faculty members to Christian colleges and universities-is the opportunity to help others. The third ministry that Bonhoeffer writes of consists 10 in bearing of others. By this, Bonhoeffer means forbearing and sustaining. "The brother is a burden to the Christian, precisely because he is a Christian. For the pagan the other person never becomes a burden at all. He simply sidesteps every burden that others may impose upon him . . . It is the fellowship of the Cross to experience the burden of the other."15 In a Christian university, we are called to bear one another's burdens. I feel honored and complimented when a student comes to me to share a personal loss or tragedy, for that person is implicitly acknowledging that he or she thinks that I will care to share the sense of loss that the student feels. Bonhoeffer wrote: "to bear the burden of the other person means involvement with the created reality of the other, to accept and affirm it, and, in bearing with it, to break through to the point where we take joy in it."16 The fourth ministry is that of proclaiming, the "unique situation in which one person bears witness in human words to another person, bespeaking the whole consolation of God, the admonition, the kindness, and the severity of God."17 Bonhoeffer notes the interdependence of the ministries that he has described. Proclaiming the Word must be accompanied by careful listening or it will not be perceived as relevant by the other person. And if one's actions have not been actively helpful, then how can proclaiming be perceived as real or not phony? By bearing the concerns of others- colleagues and students-one wins the right to be heard. 11 A Christian university, like the members of it, should proclaim; it should proclaim, as one Christian university does, "that God Is; That He is revealed uniquely in Christ." As American society becomes increasingly secular, there is a greater need for Christian universities and the members of those universities to proclaim. I suppose that a skeptical, even cynical, orientation has characterized academia for many, many years. But a sort of anti-Christian attitude toward a Christian university-in this case, Pepperdine- was brought home to me in a letter I received from an applicant for an opening at Pepperdine. He wrote: One week ago, I was told by someone of an opening at Pepperdine. This was greeted with a certain amount of snickering and laughter in the political science lounge at [deleted] University. Knowing absolutely nothing about Pepperdine, I failed to understand the "humor" until I read your advertisement for myself, especially where you point out that Pepperdine "celebrates and extends the spiritual and ethical ideals of the Christian faith." What others found worthy of derision, has for me been the ultimate experience in life. It is incumbent on Christian colleges and universities to proclaim the most important words of history, the gospel of Jesus Christ. The fifth ministry is the ministry of authority. But authority in the Christian community is radically different 12 than in the secular world. Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be great must be your slave."19 Bonhoeffer not only read and wrote about these words, he lived them. Following dinner on the second day after the members of Bonhoeffer's clandestine seminary arrived at Zingst, those in the kitchen requested help from the seminarians in the dining room in washing the dinner dishes. According to one of those who was present, "There were no immediate volunteers. Without saying a word Bonhoeffer rose from the table, disappeared into the kitchen and refused admission to those who hastened to follow suit. Later when he rejoined the students . . . he made no comment."20 Authority within the Christian community, according to Bonhoeffer, "can be attained only by the servant of Jesus who seeks no power of his own, who himself is a brother among brothers submitted to the authority of the Word."21 The Search for God's Truth22 Much of what I have written above would describe many Christian communities. For example, those in Mother Teresa's hospital in Calcutta constitute a community of called Christians who minister to the sick and dying in the ways that Bonhoeffer described. What then are the distinctive ways scholars in a Christian university celebrate and proclaim Jesus Christ different from other 13 Christian communities? The central purposes of the members of university communities are to teach and to seek truth. In a Christian university the central purposes are also to teach and to seek truth, but a truth understood, built on, and informed by the Word; that is, God's truth. It is quite clear that this is what was going on at Finkenwalde; indeed, Bonhoeffer's best known book, The Cost of Discipleship, was conceived of, written and discussed here. How could Bonhoeffer possibly have thought of and articulated his concept of "cheap grace" without hard study, much reading and long discussions with his fellow community members? So the search for God's truth-Christian scholarship-and teaching are the central characteristics that distinguish the Christian university from other Christian communities. The other vital distinguishing feature of Christian higher education is the way that people treat one another. While the faculty and administrators may-indeed, probably will-disagree on a number of issues, they should maintain respect for one another. Faculty members should respect their students, and if they make a mistake and treat a student badly, they should confess and apologize. Thus, the behavior of members of a Christian university community should distinguish it from secular institutions of higher learning. This is not to say that Christian colleges and universities have a monopoly on fair and just behavior; however, I do contend that such behavior should be more 14 common at a Christian institution than a secular one. Conclusion In this paper, I have portrayed a small, clandestine seminary in Nazi Germany as an "ideal-type" Christian university and have sought to see in what ways and to what extent Dietrich Bonhoeffer's observations about his Christian community are relevant to Christian colleges and universities. I would like to offer several concluding observations. First, significant things happen in Christian universities. Bonhoeffer's two and a half years living in Christian community were vital to his development as a Christian and as a theologian. Bonhoeffer himself noted the importance of this period of his life. It was during this period that he wrote one of his most widely read and most influential works, The Cost of Discipleship. It was also during this period that Bonhoeffer made the momentous personal decision to participate in the attempt to assassinate Hitler.23 Second, and something that is not widely recognized, had the community at Finkenwalde not existed, Bonhoeffer's most prominent works may not have been written and probably would not have been published. One of the seminarians at Finkenwalde was Eberhard Bethge, who after the seminary was closed, became Bonhoeffer's assistant. It was Bethge who pieced together and completed the manuscript that Bonhoeffer 15 wrote while in prison, Ethics. It was Bethge who saved and edited the letters that Bonhoeffer had written to him that became Letters and Papers from Prison. It was Bethge who collected and edited Bonhoeffer's Collected Works, and it was Bethge wrote the definitive biography of Bonhoeffer. So Bonhoeffer's thinking is known to us because of Eberhard Bethge, and Bethge knew, and came to love, Bonhoeffer because of the life together that they first shared at Finkenwalde. Third, I have focused this paper on Bonhoeffer's thinking; however, I would be remiss if I did not point out that Bonhoeffer's thinking was centered on the person of Jesus Christ. In commenting on the call of the disciples, Bonhoeffer notes, "Only one thing was required in each case- to rely on Christ's word, and cling to it as offering greater security than all the securities in the world."24 Compared to Bonhoeffer's works, what I have written is superficial and inadequate, but I am in good company. Karl Barth wrote in Church Dogmatics: I should say that the best that has been written on the subject is The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer; by this I do not mean the whole book, but some of its passages, in which the matter is handled with such depth and precision that I feel tempted to quote them at some length because I really do not feel capable of saying it better than is done here. . . . It pleases me that, in following my own line, I can for 16 once lean as heavily on another as has been possible in this case.25 I invite you-particularly those readers who are at Christian colleges and universities-to read Bonhoeffer. But, I invite you to do this with a warning from one of Bonhoeffer's closest friends, Eberhard Bethge: "I am afraid that any exploration in Bonhoeffer's footsteps will not be successfully achieved with books alone. Knowledge will come only through risks and through involvement."26 Notes 1The author would like to thank Lora Caldwell and Stephen V. Monsma for comments on a previous draft of this paper and Richard Hughes for inviting him to present this paper as part of a series on "The Idea of a Christian University." 2John 1:1-5, Revised Standard Version. 3Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Gesammelte Schriften, 4 vols. (Munich: Kaiser Verlag, 1958), Vol 1, pp. 447-49. 4Ibid. 5Larry L. Rasmussen, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Reality and Resistance (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1972). 6H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds. and translators. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958), p. 59. 7Ibid. 8For the most comprehensive biography of Bonhoeffer, written by his friend, see Eberhard Bethge, Dietrich 17 Bonhoeffer: Man of Vision, Man of Courage (New York: Harper and Row, 1970). 9Bonhoeffer quoted in John W. Doberstein's introduction to Bonhoeffer's Life Together (New York: Harper and Row, 1954), p. 9. 10Bonhoeffer quoted in Bethge, p. 341. 11Life Together, pp. 76-7. 12Ibid., pp. 91-2. 13Ibid., p. 99. 14Los Angeles Times, January 17, 1992, p. C2. 15Life Together, p. 100. 16Ibid., p. 101. 17Ibid., pp. 103-4. 18This is the Founder's Statement of Pepperdine University. For elaborations on this point, see Russell Gough, "A Perspective on Value Centered Education," and Stephen V. Monsma, "A Christian Worldview in Academia: One Person's Vision," both papers presented as part of the Pepperdine University series on "The Christian University." 19Mark 10:43, Revised New English Bible. 20Bethge, p. 350. 21Life Together, p. 109. 22I am indebted to Stephen V. Monsma for suggesting this section of the paper and many of the ideas in it. 23Please note that I am not defending that decision; I am simply pointing out that Bonhoeffer made one of the most difficult and wrenching decision of his life while living in 18 the Christian community at Finkenwalde. 24Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan, 1967), p. 87. 25Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, quoted by Bethge, p. 372. 26Eberhard Bethge, "The Challenge of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life and Theology," in Ronald Gregor Smith, World Come of Age: A Symposium on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, p. 66. 19