Bonhoeffer on an infallible (or inerrant) church, book, or doctrine

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor who was executed by the Nazis, continues to rise in fame and prominence in American theology. Many conservatives have been working to co-opt his theology for Evangelicalism, but Bonhoeffer remained thoroughly Lutheran throughout his life. What is especially interesting is that, while Bonhoeffer was seen as fairly conservative in his own setting, his views on Scripture would be seen as wildly liberal by most American Evangelicals.

For example, from student notes on a lecture Bonhoeffer gave on Karl Barth’s theology: “Be it an infallible church, Book or Doctrine, all these assume that there is a spot in the world which is not fallen and thus exempt from sinfulness. But the only part of the world free from Sin and its positive correlative is Christ Jesus… and He alone is the ultimate authority…” (DBWE 13:315 [Dietrich Bonhoeffer: London, 1933-1935]).

While brief, Bonhoeffer’s point could not be more anathema to those who claim that inerrancy is a necessary doctrine for Christianity. Bonhoeffer notes that any claims to infallibility (which is often seen as even less powerful a word than inerrancy, though Bonhoeffer could not have referred to inerrancy as the doctrine had not even been developed yet) of church, book (including the Bible!), or doctrine (including inerrancy!) is necessarily part of the fallen world and so not exempt from sinfulness. In other words, no book–even the Bible–can be seen as free from the corrupting influence of sin. Bonhoeffer instead sees Christ alone as the ultimate authority on God.

While inerrantists might attempt to counter this argument by saying things like “but how do we know about Christ?”–the implication being that we can only know about Christ through the Bible–this not only discounts the power of the Holy Spirit, but it also merely reaffirms the point that we do not need an inerrant Scripture to know about God. God instead enters into our world as the ultimate authority in Christ, coming as a human being in a way that is seen as foolishness to the world–including the inerrantists who try to raise Scripture to the level of Christ.

Bonhoeffer’s last words recorded in the lecture notes reflect this: “…God’s will crosses out all human will and effort. Hence the cross is a judgement. Thus the word of the cross which is foolishness and a stumbling block is the ultimate authority” (ibid).

Bonhoeffer’s argument thus directly answers and even chastises the inerrantist rejoinder, noting that they have raised that which is human will and effort–whether church, Book, or Doctrine–to the level of God and that the cross pronounces judgement upon that idea through Christ as ultimate authority.

Now, these words come from student notes on his lectures, but they by no means go against what Bonhoeffer says elsewhere about the doctrine of Scripture and Christology. For Bonhoeffer, and indeed for traditional Lutheranism that has not been co-opted by Evangelical thinking points, inerrancy was a moot point because God alone is without error and has already revealed Godself to us in Christ.

What so many American Evangelical fans of Bonhoeffer continue to misunderstand–and even, sadly, distort–is that Bonhoeffer was through and through a German Lutheran, not an American Evangelical. I am hopeful that as more continue to explore Bonhoeffer’s life and works, they find in Bonhoeffer not an enemy, but perhaps a challenge or correction to their theology and ethics as well.

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SDG.

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