In the last battle of a madcap week of Lent Madness, it's two spiritual giants facing off in the first round. Not fair to pit Dietrich Bonhoeffer against Athanasius so early in the Madness? Perhaps. But remember...life, like Lent Madness, is not fair.
Yesterday, Albert Schweitzer soundly defeated Lawrence 60% to 40% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen against Methodius.
As we will soon enter another 48 hours without voting, please remember these 10 tips to surviving Lent Madness Withdrawal. We know it's not easy and that LMW is real. But it all returns on Monday morning as Vida Dutton Scudder takes on F.D. Maurice. The first round concludes next Wednesday then it's on to the Saintly Sixteen starting Thursday. Hang on to your Lenten-themed-purple-bramble-infused hats!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 and was raised in a home that valued education. He earned a doctorate in theology in 1927 from the University of Berlin at the age of twenty-one. Bonhoeffer also studied at Union Theological Seminary in New York City from 1930 to1931. While in New York, he began attending the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where he enjoyed both sound theological doctrine and rich examples of Christian life lived for the sake of the world. As the Nazi party was gaining notoriety and power in Germany, many of Bonhoeffer’s friends urged him to stay in the United States rather than return to Germany, but he opted to go home.
Upon his return to Germany, Bonhoeffer accepted a position as lecturer in systematic theology at the University of Berlin. He also began teaching confirmation classes for adolescent males in a Berlin slum. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Bonhoeffer became a leading spokesman for the center of Protestant resistance to the Nazis, the Confessing Church. He spoke out not just about Hitler’s dictatorship but also against his program of genocide and the Jewish Holocaust. Bonhoeffer helped organize the underground seminary of the Confessing Church.
In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer notes, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”
In 1939, Bonhoeffer’s brother-in-law introduced him to a group planning to overthrow Hitler. Because of this affiliation, in April, 1943, just after becoming engaged to be married, Bonhoeffer was arrested and taken to prison. Later he was moved to a concentration camp at Flossenbürg. On April 9, 1945, just days before the American army would liberate Flossenbürg, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged at the age of thirty-nine.
Pastor, theologian, poet, and courageous truth-teller: Bonhoeffer’s passion for living his faith fueled his political stance and cost him his life. Through his prolific writings, he continues to serve as a prophetic and inspiring voice for the Church.
Collect for Dietrich Bohoeffer
Gracious God, in every age you have sent men and women who have given their lives in witness to your love and truth. Inspire us with the memory of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose faithfulness led to the way of the cross, and give us courage to bear full witness with our lives to your Son’s victory over sin and death, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Athanasius
Athanasius was Bishop of Alexandria in the late third and early fourth centuries. He is remembered as a fierce defender of Christian orthodoxy, most especially in campaigning against the nontrinitarian Arian heresy that was widespread in Egypt during his episcopate.
Athanasius attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 as the secretary to his bishop, Alexander. One of Alexander’s priests, Arius, had begun spreading doctrinal views different from his bishop. After debate, the council promulgated a creed, which proclaimed that Jesus was coeternal with God the Father and begotten, not made, from the same substance. Shortly after the close of the council, Alexander died, and Athanasius was chosen as Bishop of Alexandria, despite the opposition of heretical factions in Alexandria.
Athanasius faced the brunt of the reprisals from the factions that had opposed his defense of Nicene Christianity, and he was deposed as bishop and exiled five times during his seventeen-year episcopate. During his exile he went as far afield as Trier in present-day Germany, to Rome, out into the Egyptian desert, and to his father’s tomb. He ran afoul of four Roman emperors in his defense of Christian orthodoxy. For his persistent witness and stubbornness in defense of orthodoxy, Athanasius acquired the moniker Athanasius Contra Mundum–Athanasius against the world.
In his most famous work, De Incarnatione, Athanasius argues how God the Word, by the incarnation, inspires, restores, and perfects the image of humanity out of a desire that all people should be in union with God the Father. What may seem to many like a mere point of doctrine was, for Athanasius, at the core of the gospel itself: that God desires the reconciliation of all humanity unto himself, and that reconciliation is made possible through the incarnation, in the person of Jesus Christ.
For his passionate defense of Christian orthodoxy, and the life-giving nature of his writings and proclamation of the gospel, Athanasius is remembered around the Christian world.
Collect for Athanasius
Uphold your Church, O God of truth, as you upheld your servant Athanasius, to maintain and proclaim boldly the catholic faith against all opposition, trusting solely in the grace of your eternal Word, who took upon himself our humanity that we might share his divinity; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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207 comments on “Dietrich Bonhoeffer vs. Athanasius”
All honor to Bonhoeffer, a modern day saint and martyr if there ever was one. He seems to have been a nicer person than Athanasius, who is reputed to have been a curmudgeon, to say the least. Nevertheless, Athanasius nailed it at Nicaea I, establishing that, regarding the Incarnation, no half measures would do.
Historically, no Athanasius, no Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The curmudgeon gets my vote.
The committee was truly mean in making this match up. Our Sunday school class just read "On the Incarnation," so I'll go with Athanasius. Both of the candidates are wonderful examples of staying faithful to Christ in the most trying of circumstances.
Tough choice today.
Both of them had the world against them. Bohoeffer had a world falling apart against him and Athanasius had the world of heresy against him.
In the end I voted for Athanasius as he is an inspiration to continue be a voice in the wilderness of our times where relativity and heresy has gone rampant that we no longer see it for what it is.
Bonhoeffer - clearly a hero of the church; right up there with all the early martyrs we commemorate. But Athanasius - a deacon at the time he attended the Council of Nicea and drafted the creed that governs our lives - possibly did more than any other individual to shape the One Holy Catholic Church. Go Athanasius!
Especially hard decision today. Both men stood for their faith at great personal cost and both have influenced the way we see the Church and Christian life today. Both have influenced my theology.
I'm a little upset that these two were pitted against each other because they are both huge heroes of the faith. In the end, even though Dietrich Bonhoeffer is in fact a personal hero for me, I voted for Athanasius. His contributions to the Nicene Creed that we speak every Sunday in church cannot be denied, and his articulation of the Incarnation has had a lasting legacy in Christian theology and ethics. I'm sure that in 1500 years, Bonhoeffer will have the same legacy, but for now, I have to go with one of the originals.
Bohoeffer had conferences outside of Germany during the time of Nazi Germany. He convinced the Nazi he needed a full contingent of acolytes to serve him. For some reason none of those acolytes returned to Nazi Germany. They were Jewish! I vote for saving lives. Along with Rosa Parks, Albert I can't spell his last name he has a stain glass window at St Mark's Episcopal Church Altadena
I've read to much about Athanasius' intolerant actions (he was persecuting others when he wasn't being persecuted himself) to be able to manage a vote for him. I admire Bonhoeffer very much; his difficult struggle with the morality of participating in an assassination plot really moves me. This man truly tried to follow his Master.
I read a long and interesting history of the Coptic Church. There was a lot of information on Athanasius, and on other early theologians such as Origen, who was widely respected, but whose beliefs were more aligned with Arianism. In this age of religious tolerance, it's too bad that we aren't better acquainted with the theology of people whose ideas were considered non-orthodox by Athanasius. Athanasius' idea that there is only one way to believe, and that's the right way, which is my way, is not very appealing. Why not reflect on the idea that Jesus was a divinely inspired human, as Muslims believe? Was it worth a great deal of bloodshed to insist on the concept of the Trinity as a divine milkshake instead of a divine parfait made of different substances? Bonhofer, on the other hand, is a great example of courage in the face of evil.
This is my first year playing Lent Madness, and I'm really enjoying it. I've learned a lot about awesome people of whose accomplishments I knew little or nothing. But it seems to me that the pattern in the early match-ups is stacking the deck. You often pit a modern activist against an old mystic or theologian. The activist almost always wins. No surprise. I think that more balanced candidates would make the early rounds more exciting. Now pitting Cyril against Methodius--*that" was cool.
That said, I voted today for Athanasius. Because he was championed the Incarnation, and because I already know that Bonhoeffer is going to win.
I have to vote for the person I admire most -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
I'm sorry, guys, you can excommunicate me if you like, but I just can't get all that excited about arguments over the faith and councils to clarify it and all that. I'm pretty heterodox myself (you couldn't have guessed, could you?), and one man's heresy is another man's heterodoxy. Dietrich, on the other hand, died in the trenches, figuratively--put his life on the line for his faith, and lost it (his life, not his faith). Plus, there's that wonderful hymn, "By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered," which Pratt Green has adapted from Bonhoeffer (though I'd like to know more about what it was adapted from).
I find it very difficult NOT to vote for Athanasius. I find great comfort and hope for humanity in his reassuring words, his reminder that:
“Christ was made man that we might be made God.”
"For our salvation he so loved human beings as to come to be and appear in a human body.”
(Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation)
Nonetheless, through Bonhoeffer's intentional decisions, risks, and sacrifice, we see "the cost of discipleship," the cost of being being made in the image of the divine.
I remember all too well my early childhood (I was born in 1938) in Virginia during World War II: the newsreels of Hitler's army on parade, goose-stepping on their way to (supposedly) conquer the world; wondering if we would, indeed, succeed in putting an end to the evils perpetrated by them and by the Japanese war machine; wondering if my uncle and 2 first cousins would make it through the war and come home alive (they did!); then, after the war, seeing photos in Life Magazine of the concentration camps as they were found by American soldiers. Encountering the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in college; then again in seminary in midlife; ministering to Holocaust survivors as a chaplain at Methodist hospital in Brooklyn; and now, at age 78, pondering "cheap grace" and wondering if I have presented grace in a way that cheapened it or emphasized its availability to all based on Jesus' assurance to the thief that "today you shall be with me in Paradise" and on Paul's assertion that "while we were yet sinners," Jesus gave his life for us. I believe, because I have experienced God's love, God's welcome, in spite of my mistakes, errors, sins, and times of unbelief. To me, this is not "cheap" grace, but precious, amazing grace, grace that cost dearly in suffering, grace that is God's greatest gift which enables us to live in a world that has been abused and destroyed by many humans, loved and enhanced and blessed by others. With due respect to Athanasius, I have to vote for Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a saint of our times.
I had exactly the same terrifying images from my parent's Life magazine and they have stayed with me forever.
I was born in 1939 and Bonhoeffer has been a a hero to me for so long. Lucy, your post makes me feel such kinship! We are going through a very toxic period in this country an reflection in this courage and very human man is a fine thing for our Lenten reflections...thanks for your post.
Oops sorry for the typos it should read and reflection on this courageous , etc etc.
I too had to vote for Athanasius. He was there to help establish the foundation beliefs of the church. Bonhoffer gave his life for his church and fought an evil that we are still fighting today. as stated we know tanks and machineguns, but it was those that defied the "lions" who made the church what it is today.
Lucy, those thoughts are beautiful -- thank you.
I was born at Methodist Hospital in 1942 and so came along just too late to be scarred by those images as a child, but Bonhoeffer was a powerful force in my mature acceptance of Christianity 18 years later. My vote for Athanasius as architect of the faith Bonhoeffer lived in no way deprecates that inspiring life.
My granddad was a WWII veteran. Bonhoeffer it is for me.
Bonhoeffer for the Golden Halo! "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
Athanasius is the serious underdog, so here I am!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, unlike all too many church leaders in Germany during the Nazi era who either looked aside or worse, Dietrich acted on his faith and became a member of a resistance movement and was involved in smuggling arms and also joined Die Schwarze Kapelle in the plot to assassinate Hitler. The plot came ever so close to succeeding! But for a fluke occurrence the bomb that was planted at a conference would have blown Adolf Hitler to smithereens! (The conference was held around a heavy oak table. After the bomb was set and placed right next to Hitler, the briefcase it was in was moved behind one of the huge pedestal legs of the oak table, by someone who just wanted to get it out of the way of stretching his legs! When it went off, Hitler was sprayed with splinters from that table and had one arm that was lame for the remainder of his life, BUT he was alive. The Nazis then proceeded to hunt down and execute all of the members of Die Schwarze Kapelle, which included not only Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr, the Nazi espionage organization, and also Erwin Rommel, the desert fox!) Bonhoeffer was hanged without much of any kind of trial, and became a true martyr for the faith. In my view Dietrich stands in stark contrast to so many other so-called Christian leaders in Germany and elsewhere in the Nazi empire! As part of course materials for my jurisprudence course in law school, there was a photo of the Nazi hierarchy -- Goering, Himmler, Heydrich, and several others -- along with the Roman prelates of Berlin and Vienna, both cardinals, giving the Nazi salute to Adolf Hitler! It is one of the most chilling pictures I have ever seen: two supposed men of God saluting a monster, an agent of Satan himself! Dietrich Bonhoeffer is more than worthy of our votes today!
It was hard to decide. I finally made my decision to vote for the most recent hero of the church. I mostly just closed my eyes and the one I saw first. They are both so worthy of winning. I admire Athanasius but need to mix it up between the ancient and the recent.
A clear choice between one who upheld the teachings of Christ and another who focused on the rigid proclamations made by man. No contest!
To the SEC,
I'm a little worried. This is my first year and weekends LMW is hard enough.
(GULP)
What happens to me after?
We heartily endorse hibernation.
Excelent suggestion! I'll try it. Write to my boss for me?
Really? Is that all you think that Bonhoeffer was about?
I read Onionsauce's comments as a vote for Bonhoeffer.
Read "Letters and Papers from Prison," ed. Eberhard Bethge. It's a poem DB wrote while in prison and sent to his friend Bethge. I love this hymn, too.
If hibernating doesn't work, you might try Fifty Days of Fabulous, another daily devotional from Forward Movement. The tone is quite different-- I mean, it has to be. It's Easter, right? But it offers lovely essays and the opportunity to share. Worth checking out, as you wait for your Lent Madness 2016 Golden Halo winner coffee mug to arrive.
Another difficult match up. I voted for Athanasius, mostly because he was mentioned in my Intro to New Testament class a few days ago. Sure it was a tangential reference while discussing the Gospel of Thomas, but still.
I was all set to vote for Athanasius, figuring his theology was the basis of Bonhoeffer's beliefs and actions, but the comments won me over to Dietrich's side.
Well, I approached this matchup using really convoluted logic, which is what the SEC wants, I reckon. Start with Bonhoeffer's rejection of "cheap grace" and stress on "the cost of discipleship." Who doesn't want to hear that kind of talk? Who isn't inspired by Bonhoeffer's acceptance of the full cost of that discipleship, paid with his death by hanging in a prison run by the modern world's most evil dictatorship? And to load the dice a little further, what American heart isn't warmed by Bonhoeffer's discovery of a more passionate faith in a Baptist church in Harlem? Ah, now for Athanasius, who comes across as an Old World religious bureaucrat who starts out as a Bishop's secretary, gets inspired by his boss's defense of the Incarnation as the central fact of Christian history, and takes on all comers ("Athanasius contra mundum") to become homeless for the glory of this fact! So zealous is he that centuries later a poetic rant on the high Trinitarian view is attributed to him in much the way that any old Psalm, even those explicitly assigned to other composers, gets itself attributed to David. And so it is that the so-called "Athanasian Creed" ends up in the BCP, though successive editions have increasingly marginalized it, much to the impoverishment of our liturgy. Athanasius' vision of faith is way broader than Bonhoeffer's, even though the latter's death speaks to us compelling terms, raising the question, Would I be willing to die for the faith? Since that one cannot be answered in advance (don't judge the condemned prisoner till you find yourself in his shoes), I find myself unable to make the cheap gesture of voting for Bonhoeffer, and vote instead for Athanasius. There, the SEC has conquered!
I have struggled -- and read the comments -- and find myself not ready to make a choice. The reference to "vote for Bonhoeffer in subsequent rounds" presumes Bonhoeffer will win this one. That subsequent vote may not be possible. And if we believe the Divine is in all persons, that includes those for whom the Trinity is not an issue one way or the other. No easy answers and no easy choices.
I voted for a personal hero, Bonhoeffer. We need his example in the current days.
I am voting for the cornerstone, Athanasius. I am huge fan of Bonhoeffer but I cannot overlook the significance of what Athanasius did and contributed. One thing I love about Lenten Madness is seeing the pattern of future saints showing up during troubled times and doing what God needs them to do. I look to current times and try to find the people that could be future saints.
I find Bonhoeffer's life and writings so moving that I could vote no other way. If ever Jesus walks among us he certainly did with Bonhoeffer.
I have waited years for this opportunity to vote (once again) for Dietrich Bonhoeffer. With grateful thanks to the SEC for giving us another chance.
Amen, Cathy...although I wish it wasn't the same year Julian of Norwich is in the field, not to mention St. Joseph. They might have to add a Bronze Halo.
Dang that Bonhoeffer. And Schweitzer. Is there no respect for the ancient ones of the faith anymore? *drat drat drat*
Thank you to those who spoke to why the modern saints seem to be more popular than the ancient ones. You were more eloquent than I. The critques made me think about why I vote the way I do. While I have voted for some of the ancient saints, the modern ones are easier for me to try to model my life after.