“The Church must come out of its stagnation. We must move out again into the open air of intellectual discussion with the world, and risk saying controversial things, if we are to get down to the serious problems of life.” – Dietrich Bonheoffer
I first heard about Dietrich Bonheoffer about twenty years ago, while studying theology at the Jos ECWA Theological Seminary. One of my Professors in the seminary, Rev. Prof. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop, who was teaching us a course on Theology, while discussing about Christian leaders who have influenced theological thought in the twentieth century, named Bonheoffer as one of these great minds of the church in that era.
As a student who desired to have an indepth understanding of Biblical Theology, I decided there and then, to undertake a study of all the great minds that influenced theological thought, history, and, philosophy of the Church. And while doing this, I encountered Dietrich Bonheoffer through his writings. This great mind, Bonheoffer, was an intriguing theologian to me because his case affected my emotions.
Through research findings, I was to discover that Bonheoffer was hanged by Hitler’s regime on 9th April, 1945 in a Prison in Germany. His crime? He was too vocal as a Pastor. Bonheoffer preached against injustices under Hitler’s regime and urged church leaders to stand up against the regime’s heretical claims which saw one race as more superior to another. Bonhoeffer’s preachings, teachings, and criticism of Hitter’s regime were seen as treason, hence, he was imprisoned, and later hanged.
Writing about the influence of Bonheoffer in their book title: “20th Century Theology: God & the World in a Transitional Age,” Stanley Grenz & Roger Olson, pointedly said Bonheoffer was influential in the church in Germany to the extent that the regime of Hitler had to arrest, imprison, and murder him because of his stance against state policies of the Nazi regime.
“Without a doubt the life of no theologian in the twentieth century has captured the fascination of more people than has that of the young German victim of the Nazi regime, Dietrich Bonheoffer. And no decade of the century provided a more hospitable context for a postmodern revival of interest in the legacy of Bonheoffer than the turbulent 1960s.”
Bonheoffer, the duo of Grenz and Olson said, became interested in studying theology at the age of twelve. And that this dream became a reality when he enrolled in the university and studied under great theologians in the likes of Adolf van Harnack, Karl Holl and Reinhold Seeberg.
“His dissertation, ‘Sanctorum Communio: A Dogmatic Investigation of the Sociology of the Church’, received the praise of one of the rising theologians of Europe for whom Bonheoffer had gained great admiration- Karl Barth,” Grenz and Olson said.
Bonheoffer upon graduation from the university became pastor in Spain, Berlin, And later a lecturer of Systematic Theology at the University of Berlin. He also taught at a seminary in New York in the United States of America, but after a brief stint there, returned Germany to work in the Church and alongside Karl Barth.
Bonheoffer while in Germany, was concern about the Nazi ideology which was being propagated at the time with active connivance of the state church in that country. He saw the Nazi ideology as a doctrine of the anti-Christ and hence, not only rejected it, but also fought against it. It was this daring effort that infuriated Hitler’s Nazi regime so much that made it to clamp Bonheoffer into military detention and his subsequent murder in prison.
It is now sixty-nine years since Bonheoffer was hanged in Germany, but his words, teachings, and sermons have remained indelible in the minds of all those who see the church as not only a sanctuary of righteousness, but also a place of salvation for those who seek God; A place of refuge for the oppressed; A place for those who are prepared to place their lives on the line to speak out against all forms of evil forces that are holding mankind captive.
In a letter he wrote in 1944, from prison months before he was hanged, Bonheoffer said: “The Church must come out of its stagnation. We must move out again into the open air of intellectual discussion with the world, and risk saying controversial things, if we are to get down to the serious problems of life.”
It is now close to seventy years since he was martyred, and the question may be asked: has the church and its leadership in our time harkened to Bonheoffer’s wise counsel? Has the church today taking upon itself the task of speaking out against socio-political forces that have oppressed more than two-third of mankind’s population?
If the answers to the above questions are in the affirmative what is the prove? And if these answers are in the negative, we may again ask: what is the evidence? There is no doubt that the church in our clime has had to contend with multiple problems that are both spiritual and physical. But should this be the reason for it to shy away from its responsibilities, first to God, and then to man? Why is the church and its leadership turning a blind eye to injustices in our society and is seen to be partaking in evil communion with corrupt regimes?
I intend to dwell a little on Bonheoffer’s statement in his prison letter. First, Bonheoffer advises that: “The Church must come out of its stagnation.” Is the church in a stagnant state? Is there any evidence to suggest that such a situation is prevailing in the church? And how prevalent is the phenomenon in our churches today?
From my observations about events unfolding in my country Nigeria, and from news about happenings in the global Christian community, there is no doubt that the church is in a stagnant state, and if not in a stagnant state, we can comfortably say that its development is experiencing regression and retardation. In short, we can say without contradiction that there’s, arrested development, both physical and spiritual, in the church today.
As an evidence let us take a look at the scenario unfolding globally. Available information clearly indicates that there is a general decline in the quest for the things of God by a large population of the global community. The prove of this can be seen in the phenomenal rise in terrorism in the Middle-East and Asia, the canonization of corruption in most countries of the third world, the codification of homosexuality as legal sexual behavior and the beatification of its practitioners in America and Europe, and the overwhelming poverty that has become rooted in most developing nations. All these are pointers to a regression and retardation of development, both physical and spiritual.
So, the claims by Bonheoffer of a stagnating church is not only empirical but also points to the fact that, something has to be done and urgently too. Why must we agree with Bonheoffer that the church is stagnant? If the church is not stagnant, why are we having these multiple problems across the world? The duty and responsibility of the Church is to proclaim the undiluted Gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations.
Jesus, shortly before ascending to Heaven, called his disciples and gave them the instructions to preach to all people and races, his message of salvation to all of mankind.
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:18 – 28:20 KJV).
The question may be asked, has the church and its leaders done precisely as Jesus has instructed them? If the church had done this, why are we having such terrible vices plaguing the world? Is it that our sermons are no longer effective? When we have presidents of powerful nations like Barrack Obama of the United States of America openly supporting homosexuality and threatening other nations that have forbidding the sexual practice, is the church not disturbed that those who profess the Christian Faith are the very ones encouraging such a sin that is condemned by God?
When we have a Pope Francis who openly is seen not condemning homosexual behaviors or an Archbishop Desmond Tutu who openly preaches his love for homosexuality and sees it as a doctrine of the church, are we as Christians not worried that a great error is being propagated by the very people who should condemn these sexual acts that are anti-God?
Furthermore, is the church in the developing world living to expectations and mandate? If the church is, why is there mass poverty that is threatening the very existence of the citizens of these nations in spite of the abundant material wealth that God has blessed these countries with?
Where is the oil wealth of Nigeria? Have we not heard and read about the billions of dollars stashed away in Swiss banks and in other western nations by our leaders? In all this, what are church leaders saying? Are we not having many church leaders who partake in stealing these funds while majority of Nigerians live in abject poverty? So, can we not say that the church is stagnant because it has abdicated its responsibility to preach salvation in addition to not speaking out against public theft, injustices, and fighting for equity to be entrenched in our polity?
The stagnation that Bonheoffer speaks about is best described in our present circumstances as: “Arrested Spiritual Development.” It is arrested spiritual development because there is no longer spiritual growth amongst Christians, and as a result, we now have a church leadership that desires worldly possessions, than sacrificing all in order to proclaim the word of God without fear or favour. Let us briefly pause here, to answer the question, What is the meaning of the term, Arrested Development and What is Arrested Spiritual Development?
Wikipedia, while describing what this term means, says: “The term “arrested development” has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term “arrested development” was used, in 1835-1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be used in the same way. However, in the UK Mental Health Act of 1983, the term “arrested development” was considered a form of mental disorder consisting of severe mental impairment, resulting in a lack of intelligence.”
As recent as four decades ago, precisely in 1967, the term, ‘Arrested Development’ was mentioned by Samuel Angus, in his treatise: “The religious quests of the Graeco-Roman world : a study in the historical background of early Christianity,” when he said: “Then, as ever, the Spirit as life manifested itself more surely and readily in change and motion than in stereotyped forms, prescriptive beliefs, and arrested developments.”
From these definitions, we can draw conclusions that the term arrested development simply means a situation in which an individual, group of persons, or organizations, have experienced burn out and there is no more progress in terms of growth in the life of the individual, in the lives of the persons in this group, or in the exponential growth of such an organization. It also implies that arrested development is the stoppage of growth and a mental retardation that causes impairment in human reasoning.
Indeed, these definitions aptly state the truth about the prevailing situation in the world today, and there is no doubt that there is no longer development globally since majority of the people in the world have been forced into a poverty situation, terrorism has become a hydra-headed monster that has been devouring and destroying lives across the world, and, just as the promotion of sin has become a top item on the agenda of the United Nations.
What we see happening globally is a manifestation of and a phenomenal rise in global terrorism, which points to the failure of religion to play a positive role in the affairs of men. Instead, we have religious bigots who manipulate the psyche of the people because of their desire to know God. And they do this by inculcating in them, religious beliefs that places God in a mould that reflects and presents God as a terror-loving God and one who desires to see blood shed in his name. Can we therefore, not say that this is sheer madness of the highest order? How can some people believe that they are fighting God’s war by killing others?
We are also confronted by philosophies enunciated by agents of the devil from the pit of Hell, who seek to overturn God’s plan for mankind. These evil forces are against anything godly and do the contrary to the teachings of the word of God, the Bible. They preach that homosexuality is a social behavior that should be encourage, even when God in his word, the Bible, says it is wrong. Governments in the western world, in USA and Europe, see the entrenchment of homosexuality as a sexual norm that most be embraced by all in the world; and order that is clearly against God’s teachings.
How can any right thinking human being just wake up and demand that men must marry men and women should marry themselves? Is this not a case of mental retardation? If God who created all mankind could not just create a man, but chose to create both male and female because he felt it was good for him to do so, why do men who are mere mortals, think they can change God’s order? The sad thing is that they call their campaign for sexual perversion as promotion of human rights. This is an abomination!
This also brings us to the second question as to, what is arrested spiritual development? Wikipedia in defining the term spirituality, says “The term “spirituality” lacks a definitive definition, although social scientists have defined spirituality as the search for “the sacred,” where “the sacred” is broadly defined as that which is set apart from the ordinary and worthy of veneration.” Wikipedia stresses this when it says:
“There is no single, widely-agreed definition of spirituality. Social scientists have defined spirituality as the search for the sacred, for that which is set apart from the ordinary and worthy of veneration, “a transcendent dimension within human experience…discovered in moments in which the individual questions the meaning of personal existence and attempts to place the self within a broader ontological context.”
If the above definition is to be accepted, we can say that spirituality is a phenomenon in which a person has the intuition that their is a being greater than all humans, who must have ordered things in the universe to be as they are and man in his quest to understand this greater and more powerful being, engages in the search for knowledge about this being called God. The study of who God is what we call Theology, the science and study of God. And as man gains a full knowledge and understanding of who God is, he tries to obey the instructions of the laws of God. That is what spirituality is all about.
From the above we can therefore, say that arrested spiritual development is the stoppage of growth in one’s spiritual life. What this means is that, when one is no longer able to discern between good and evil, then such a person has got to a state of no return. What I mean is that it would always be difficult to convinced such a person to have a rethink and change his views about his beliefs.
Now, we understand why in Nigeria, adherents of the Yusufiya Islamic sect known as Boko Haram, have become very difficult to be convinced to discard their brand of Islam that sees violence as a means to an end. And because of this, it has become very difficult for them to see reason to embrace peace.
Under this circumstance, one spiritually slides backward, just like a vehicle is driven to a hill it can no longer climb, but gets to slide back to the slope of the hill. Under this condition,the driver of the vehicle loses control and the vehicle crushes anything on its path as it slides down the slope. Destruction becomes the ultimate result of such a moving vehicle, and so also, is a person whose religious beliefs are perverted. Such persons kill without mercy.
Charles Pope, a Catholic Priest in trying to simplify the term, Arrested Spiritual Development, uses an analogy of a young man who’s an expert in his field of study, but spiritually an infant. This is what Charles Pope says about arrested spiritual development:
“Consider a young adult, say 25, who had gone on to physical maturity, and even earned a college degree. Perhaps he has just landed a job in a cutting edge field and is both technically smart and talented. But, despite being a highly trained expert in his secular field, his spiritual development is arrested and he has progressed little since second grade.”
Pope describes a Christian whose spirituality is retarded or arrested as someone, even though an adult, is spiritually depraved and knows little or nothing at all about the Christian Faith:
“He knows there is a God and has heard about Jesus but does not know for sure if Jesus is God, he thinks so but he’s not sure. He is aware of the Bible’s existence but cannot name all four Gospels and would not even be sure exactly where to find them in the book. He’d eventually find them but it would take a lot of time. Names like Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David, Peter, Judas, et al., sound familiar to him, but he cannot tell you much about them, except that they are in the Bible. He has heard the word sacrament but cannot give an example of one and is not sure he’s received them or if that is just something priests and nuns get. Every now and then he thinks to pray but he really does not know what to say or how to do it.”
Continuing, Charles Pope also says: “Now, mind you, this is a smart guy, he has a lot of knowledge in his field which is highly technical. A lot of people seek him for technical advice and he is a real problem solver in the corporation, keeping the computers and other critical peripherals updated and in good functioning order. But spiritually he is an infant.
Pope is alarm that in spite of such prevailing situations that have created infant Christians who have continued to massed into our churches every Sunday for worship services, church leaders and Christian leaders are not perturbed about this sad spiritual state of most of their members. Instead, what we find is that our Christian leaders are interested more in preaching prosperity gospel instead of spiritual growth. We have pastors more interested in getting offerings and tithes than, concern with the spiritual and physical well being of their members.
Charles Pope further observes: “The interesting question is, why did his parents and parishioners not experience alarm as they noted arrested spiritual development in him? As he began to go from second grade to third and forth, not only did NOT progress, but he actually got worse. Why did his parents not sound an alarm? Why did the pastor and catechists not experience shock that he seemed to show no progress in the Spiritual life? As his age drew him into high school, not only did his knowledge of the faith not increase but his moral life now began to slide. Soon his language grew bad, he resented authority, was looking at porn on the Internet. His parents were irritated by this, but not really alarmed enough to intensify his recourse to the sacraments or augment his spiritual training. Spiritually he was frozen in time. But no one seemed to notice or care.”
Pope says while parents do all they can to ensure that their children receive solid and sound education to prepare them for good jobs upon graduation from the universities, these same parents and pastors do not care about the spiritual development of these children. Hear what he has to say about this:
“But, by God, when almost failed a math course his parents went into action and hired a tutor! After all, this might threaten his getting into a good college! But his failure to grow spiritually never much fazed them. When he went to college they drove up with him, looked at the dorms, met a few of his teachers and attended orientation sessions for new students. But they never thought to meet the College Chaplain or ever to ask who would be spiritually teaching or pastoring their son. You know, that sort of stuff doesn’t really occur to you to ask about.”
To Charles Pope, this is unthinkable. Why would parents and church leaders not see this development as a sad thing that must be addressed? The priest advanced some reasons for this: lack of the desire to grow in one’s faith, kingdom matters are best left to be taking care of when we get to Heaven, and the blindsiding of significant spiritual things that matter most.
“Well, you get the picture: It starts, really, with low expectations. Most people don’t really expect that they should grow much in their faith. Advanced knowledge and deep prayer are for priests and nuns. Too many lay people just don’t expect much, and thus are not alarmed when they and their kids know next to nothing about the faith.
“Further, the faith is sort of a side issue to many. What really matters is that you study hard to get a career that will unlike the American Dream. Never mind that worldly things don’t last, or that it’s pointless and harmful to climb the ladder of success when it is leaning up against the wrong wall. We’ll think about all that tomorrow. For now just keep pursuing your dreams.
“Finally the sense that faith really matters at all is muted today when many have an unbiblical view that almost everyone goes to heaven. This removes any motivation to grow in the faith or be serious about living it in a counter-cultural way. To put it in a worldly way: why work hard or seek to develop yourself when the paycheck has already been deposited, and you’ll get paid no matter what, and can never lose your job? Scripture – So here we are with a lot Christians who have a very bad case of arrested development.”
What Charles Pope is simply saying is that, church leaders are to be blamed for the lack of spiritual development in the body of Christ, the church. He also says parents have abdicated their responsibilities to train their children in the things of God, and that this had contributed immensely to the predicament that the church and it’s leadership have now found themselves.
According to Charles Pope, Arrested spiritual development is real and that it had not only brought stagnation in the church, but also retarded its progress. This position, no doubt, agrees with Bonheoffer’s theology on the spiritual stagnation of the church.
Having exhaustively discussed what a stagnating church is all about, let us now look at the second and final statement made by Bonheoffer in his prison letter.
According to Bonheoffer, “We must move out again into the open air of intellectual discussion with the world, and risk saying controversial things, if we are to get down to the serious problems of life.”
Speaking from the pulpit had not always been a picnic. Many over the centuries have had to lay down their lives because they opted to stand for the truth and speak out against evil. A look into the history of the church brings this out clearly. Jesus, the Christ, had to pay the supreme price on the cross because he preached God’s love for mankind, preached justice and peace and offered salvation to a world enslaved in sin.
In the era of the reformation in Christendom, Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic Priest, was excommunicated from the Catholic Church when he nailed his ninety-five theses on a door in a university in Germany where he was a professor and a Priest. He was forced to recant, but he stood his grounds and insisted that only on the Bible he stands. In our time, another Martin Luther emerged in America, in the person of Martin Luther King, Jr. This other Luther preached against racism and fought against injustice and discrimination along racial divide.
Speaking out against evil in whatever form, be it injustice, an act of profanity, blasphemy, or other sundry anti-God acts is the mandate of the church. Bonheoffer believes that keeping quite makes one an accessory to these crimes against God and humanity. But knowing that there is a price to be paid in doing so, Bonheoffer encourages church leaders to take the risk and speak out. The risk is worth it, as the reward is a crown in Heaven.
Bonheoffer was only towing the line of great preachers before him. He was living according to the teachings of his master, Jesus. Bonheoffer was not comfortable with happenings in his time, and henced, spoke out. In America, Martin Luther King Jr, too was not happy with the events of his time and did not remain quite. He spoke forcefully against such. Unfortunately, President Barrack Obama, who is a beneficiary of the prophetic messages preached by Martin Luther King Jr, has today, become a proponent of sexual perversion by promoting homosexuality, a vice Martin Luther King Jr, would have preached against if he were still alive.
Bonheoffer preached his messages and ended in prison, but this did not deter him from preaching the truths of God. From prison, Bonheoffer sent out letters containing strong prophetic messages; he sent out books outline and still wrote down what the Holy Spirit led him to say. This he did up to the moment he was hanged.
Now, how many Pastors in Nigeria have had to go to prison because of what they believe and preached? How many of our church leaders have been killed because of preaching the truth of God? Does this not occur to us that the absence of such martyrs of the Christian Faith, is a likely pointer that our sermons have been ineffective and hence, have not provoke the devil to rise against us? When as pastors we own airplanes, ride in limousines, live in mansions in parts of our cities reserved only for the wealthy, does this not tell us that our preaching is lukewarm and that we have compromised the Gospel message?
What is to be done? The time has therefore, come for a paradigm shift. Christian leaders must rise to the prophetic role they have been assigned. They must speak out against all forms of sins and must not only preached against such, but live in accordance with what they profess and teach.
Bonheoffer is no doubt a prophet with a message for our time. Even though he died about three decades plus ago, his prophetic message still warns the leadership of the church today about the consequences of ineptitude and lukewarmness about the role the church should play in moulding the society into a transformed body of Christ. The church most move out of its comfort zone, and preach prophetic messages to a sinking world in need of salvation from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, the Christ.
*Minchakpu is a Christian Writer & A Media Consultant. He sent in this piece from #6. Noad Avenue, Jos, Nigeria.
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