The Winter issue 58.1 of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies is now available. For each issue, the Diablogue features one author and makes available a full-text version of their article for 30 days. In this issue, we are featuring Robert B. Slocum's "Thrown into God’s Arms: The Sacrificial Grace of Dietrich Bonhoeffer." A full-text version of his article is available on Project Muse and be accessed HERE.
Robert B. Slocum (Episcopal Church) has been an assistant professor in the University of Kentucky's College of Medicine, Dept. of Internal Medicine (voluntary faculty), in Lexington, KY, since 2017, and a Narrative Medicine Facility program coordinator for the University of KY HealthCare since 2015. He teaches an elective course for fourth-year medical students on the narrative basis for patient care and resilient practice. He taught at St. Catharine College, Springfield, KY, 2008–16, and was dean of its School of Arts & Sciences, 2011–13. He has also taught theology and religion at Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI; Mount Mary College (now University), Milwaukee; Carthage College, Kenosha, WI; and Nashotah (WI) House Seminary, During 1986–2002 and 2007–09, he served in ordained ministry positions and as a part-time chaplain, 1993–98, in a Veterans Administration Medical Center in Milwaukee. He was a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Air Force, 1978–83. His B.A. and J.D. are from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN; his M.Div. from Nashotah House Seminary; his D. Min. from the University of the South, Sewanee, TN; and his Ph.D. (1997) in systematic theology from Marquette University. He has authored four books, most recently The Anglican Imagination: Portraits and Sketches of Modern Anglican Theologians (Ashgate, 2015; Routledge, 2016), and edited or co-edited ten others, including Discovering Common Mission: Lutherans and Episcopalians Together (with Don S. Armentrout; Church Publishing, 2003). His nearly forty articles have appeared in theological or medical journals and as book chapters, and he has made presentations at more than two dozen theological and medical conferences. He is married to Victoria Slocum and has three adult children.
In two sentences, what is the argument of your J.E.S. article?
Identifying with the oppressed in both the U.S. and Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said the church of Christ lives in all people, beyond all national, political, social, and racial boundaries. He offered an ecumenical vision of the Christian church that greatly transcends the Christian nationalism of National Socialism in Germany; he saw that God’s love for the world and incarnational Christian spirituality can be expressed through political action and active resistance.
How did you get interested in the topic?
I was fascinated by Bonhoeffer's heartfelt devotion and academic achievement that provided the foundation for his unflinching Christian witness, resistance, and sacrifice. He spoke up and acted with great courage at a time when many Christians in his country looked the other way in the face of great evil. The story of his willingness to apply his faith in resistance and direct action against Nazi tyranny also provided an effective example and good material for discussion in undergraduate courses I taught on topics such as Christ and culture, quests for God, and applied ethics.
Your article poses a stark contrast between the Confessing church movement associated with Bonhoeffer and the dominant German Christian movement that became co-opted by Nazi ideology. Do you see parallels in the world today and how best can Bonhoeffer speak to the challenges we face?
Like us, Bonhoeffer lived in a time of great conflict and abuse of vulnerable minorities who were seen as outsiders by the powerful. The response of German Christians to the threats of National Socialism generally ranged from anemic to complacent to complicit; Bonhoeffer's frustration was palpable. He expressed faith through prayer and justice instead of powerful religious organizations and sought a future form of the church that might be unexpected—nonreligious in a conventional sense, but able to convert and transform. He consistently sacrificed his own safety to resist the oppression of the German people, while expressing and living the unity of faith and action in the world through sacrificial grace.
What is your next project?
I am continuing to explore perspectives on "war and faith" from the mid-19th century to the present. I define "war" broadly to include intense struggles outside the context of declared wars such as civil rights and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, as well as declared wars. I believe that sometimes in the worst situations, we reach out for the divine most earnestly, stating our beliefs, understandings, and sources of meaning most clearly. I am currently beginning to research the writings and witness of Dorothy Day.
Article Abstract:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer encountered Aryan nationalism and racism with sacrificial grace and Christian opposition. One of the first and the very few to speak out against the Nazis and to follow through with active resistance, he resisted Nazi intrusions into the life of the German church and the impact of Nazi bigotry on Jews and others excluded from full participation in German society. During his time in New York City at Union Theological Seminary and at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, he witnessed the impact of racism in the United States. Identifying with the oppressed in both the U.S. and Germany, he said the church of Christ lives in all people, beyond all national, political, social, and racial boundaries. Offering an ecumenical vision of the Christian church that greatly transcends the Christian nationalism of National Socialism, he moved from academic and pastoral ministry to direct action against Nazi oppression by smuggling Jews out of Germany, using ecumenical contexts to spread word about resistance to the Nazis, and seeking the overthrow of Nazi leadership. Self-sacrificing in his devotion to public activism, he saw that God’s love for the world and incarnational Christian spirituality could be expressed through political action. He expressed faith through prayer and justice, not in powerful religious organizations, and sought a future form of the church that might be unexpected—nonreligious in a conventional sense, but able to convert and transform. He consistently sacrificed his own safety to resist the oppression of the German people, while expressing the unity of faith and action in the world through sacrificial grace.
