– the Realism of Preaching1. Milestones for an Orthodox Preacher’s Proclaiming Culture An Introduction

Constantin Necula*

This paper aims to successively present approaches to German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s thinking in the Romanian research area and to retain a series of milestones of his ample theological vision that could be relevant to the culture of an Orthodox preacher. I believe that the example of Bonhoeffer’s life and work are positive challenging models for the pastoral Orthodox thinking, due to his homiletic vision of life, somehow comparable with the vision of some theologians, who gave good Christian testimony during the difficult times of Romanian and European history. I dare to assert that Bonhoeffer’s thoroughness to elucidate the terminology of Christian preaching and to deal with specific topics of theology of reality that is active and directed to the service of a neighbor, as well as his manner of eschatologically embracing the Christian life, creates paths for the education of dialogue with Orthodoxy.

Keywords: Bonhoeffer, Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, preaching, homiletics

Before dealing with different translations of and approaches to Bonhoeffer’s theology in the Romanian research area, it should be indicated the framework of his homiletic vision of life2. It is centered on the Living Word of God and promotes the balance between the sacramental dimension of the Word and its reforming dynamic role in the social context that help the to fulfill

* Rev. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Constantin Necula, Andrei Șaguna Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania. Adress: Str. Mitropoliei 20, 550179, Sibiu, Ro- mania; e-mail: [email protected]. 1 Realism of preaching refers to how the preacher assumes his preaching at the cost of his life. His preaching starts from the premises of real life and proposes a Christian vision of the world sometimes against the principles that animate it. One example would be that in Ger- many of that period, which was heading towards dictatorship and corruption of Christian values, Dietrich Bonhoeffer insists on freedom in Christ as a freedom of conscience. 2 By „homiletic vision of life” we understand one of the exigencies of life in Christ, sprin- ging from the preaching of the , sometimes hard to reach in everyday life, but fun- damental as a landmark in the life of the Christian. Maximalism of Bonhoeffer’s life proves that the assumption of the Gospel, as in the case of his contemporaries, the Franciscan Ma- ximilian Kolbe can be brought up to martyrdom. See: Fr. James, E. McCurry, Maximilian Kolbe Martyr of Charity, London, Catholic Truth Society 2013, p. 64. The unity between confession and life provides such an example that reveals their preaching to be a true fulfill- ment of the gospel of Christ.

RES 9 (3/2017), p. 410-425 DOI: 10.1515/ress-2017-0028 Dietrich Bonhoeffer – the Realism of Preaching its eternal purpose. For this reason I retain Timothy George’s observations on Reformers’ theology and a recent perspective on the / reformism in the context of the three Abrahamic religions. Analyzing the theology of the Reformers, Timothy George identifies a series of landmarks, in order to pro- vide bases for its validity in time. He highlights a series of lessons with regard to “Worship and Spirituality”, which are still relevant both to the Reform- ers way of thinking and to the great theologians of Protestantism. Speaking about the Reformation debates on the Lord’s Supper, he asserts that in the first place “we need to reclaim the theology of presence”3. Secondly “we need to return to the practice of more frequent Communion”4. Concerning the re- lation between Word and Sacrament he indicates that “we need to restore the balance between Word and Sacrament in Christian worship”5. He acknowl- edges that preaching was not a new invention of the Reformers. Their con- tribution is that they made the sermon the centerpiece of the church’s regular worship and gave an important place to the solemn and clear Scripture read- ings. They tried to keep a balance between the Word of God heard from the Scriptures and the «visible words» of God of the Sacraments. The Augsburg Confession (1530) declares succinctly that the Church is a gathering of all believers, in which the Gospel is purely preached, and the holy sacraments are properly administered in accordance with the divine Word6. Timothy George concludes that each of the reformers (Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and Menno) embodies a certain, distinct, perhaps even unique pattern of spirituality, dif- ferently expressed according to their main preoccupation. Therefore, Luther conveys a feeling of joy and freedom, while Zwingli is preoccupied with pure religion and obedience to the only true God and Calvin focuses on the sense of wonder and astonishment in front of the glory of God that is crucial for true piety. Menno emphasizes a faithfully fulfilled discipleship7. A recent perspective on the reformation / reformism in the context of the three Abrahamic religions sets out some indicators in the light of which these processes can be regarded, namely the relation to God; the reference to the text of the Scripture; the conception of authority; definition of believ- er; the relationship with others; woman’s status; education; social / political commitment; religious pluralism; the criticism of the orthodoxy of religion;

3 Timothy George, Theology of the Reformers,revised Edition, Nashville, Tennessee, Broad- man & Holman Publishing Group 2013, p. 389-390. 4 Ibidem. 5 Ibidem. 6 Ibidem. 7 Ibidem, p. 390-391.

411 Constantin Necula proposals of changing the community of believers or of others8. Thus, we are taught both the necessity of relation between Scripture and social con- text, and the assumption by the Church of the social and implicitly political dimension, in order to fulfill its social responsibility to avoid reformation sociopathy for the sake of human dictatorship. From this double perspective, the Protestant theologian Dietrich Bon- hoeffer could systematically provoke the homiletic thinking of Orthodoxy, not through textuality or contextuality, but through the eschatological as- sumption of his conception of Christian life. The value grid of a continu- ously reforming dynamic could be constantly applied to his work and life. H. Mottu, one of his well-known exegetes, noted as basis of his theological thinking the question: “For whom, together with whom and in whose name are we the Church?”9. To theologically answer this question we have two sources of his work (La nature de l’Église10 and Éthique11). But to transmit the values contained in the answer to this question and to identify the mech- anisms of communication directed towards the theologically thinking com- munity we ought to pay attention to Bonhoeffer’s Homiletic construction and preaching that could be seen as a lesson of communication and a way of communicating theological thinking at the cost of his life. Sources of information of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life and activity in Romanian In the realm of Romanian Orthodoxy, Dietrich Bonhoeffer becomes more accessible, but we have to admit that our research is not at the level of Bon- hoeffer’s reception in Italian12 or French13 language Christian cultures, as

8 Stephane Lathion, Réformisme dans les trois religions abrahamiques. Entre texte et contexte, répondre aux défis sociaux, séminaire proposé par Dr. Stéphane Lathion Chaire de Science des Religions, Univesité de Fribourg, 2005-2006, p. 5. 9 Henry Mottu, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Paris, Edition du Cerf 2002, p. 63. 10 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, La nature de l’Église, 2nd edition, edited by Otto Dudzus, Labor et Fides, Genève, 1972. 11 Idem, Éthique, Labor et Fides, Genève, 1969. For this study I use also the German edi- tion Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethik, edited by Ilse Tödt, Heinz Eduard Tödt et al., München, Chr. Kaiser Verlag 1998. 12 Details on the reception of Bonhoeffer in Italian can be found in the article (44) Gerhard L. Müller, “Bonhoeffer Dietrich”, in: Manlio Sodi, Achille M. Triacca, Dizionario di Omile- tica, Torino- Bergamo, Elle di Ci, 1998, p. 202-204. 13 See a relevant study of Bonhoeffer’s spirituality from the point of view of French theolo- gical thinking, including an analysis of his poems, in the article of Louis Scweitzer, “Théo- logie et spiritualité. Dietrich Bonhoeffer”, in: Théologie évangélique 3 (2/2004), p. 155- 177, which also includes many of French translations of the Protestant theologian.

412 Dietrich Bonhoeffer – the Realism of Preaching well as we do not have analyzes of a comparative theology. However, some of the sources should be considered. Perhaps the most important popular writing concerning his life, work and theology is authored by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer - pastor, martir, profet, spion (Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy)14, with the subtitle for the Romanian edition: Un neprihănit dintre nea- muri împotriva celui de-al Treilea Reich (A righteous among the Nations against the Third Reich). A well-informed scholar should notice that this book comes over years as a consequence of ’s work, whose writing – Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Man of Vision, Man of Courage – published in 1970, offered the first ample almost literary biography of the Protestant theologi- an. Metaxas’ writing presents the phases of the martyr pastor’s life (family, childhood, education in Tübingen, Rome, Berlin), the stages of his ministry (Barcelona, Berlin, America), and his journey to consolidate his ample theo- logical vision manifested in the struggle for the Church or kept in Eberhard Bethel’s memories. It retains Bonhoeffer’s memories of Fanø, of his service at Zingst and Finkenwalde or of his detention in Tegel (cell 92) and last but not least those memories concerning his end in Buchenwald, which were so relevantly recounted by the British Captain S. Payne Beste, who describes in the volume The Venlo Incident15 his own imprisonment in Germany. Both his life and theological thinking offer us the picture of a the- ology remarkably articulated in reality and coherent in the Spirit of God, active and oriented toward the service of the neighbor. That is why he al- ways engages us in a new reading of the theological definitions asking the Church to adapt to its time, in order to be able to respond to the demands of modernity, and meanwhile to preserve the infallible fidelity of the primary ecclesial sources, namely Christ’s Word and Commandment. Bonhoef- fer defended values such as freedom (man being condemned to be free – see his ; freedom can only be found in Christ, the freedom of interconfes- sional recognition), peace (the mission of the Church, ecumenism and the political role of the Church in social mediation), justice (contained in the confessions mentioned above and that of Barmen - 1934), the Jewish question (the Church facing the Jewish question, the Aryan paragraph in the formu- lation of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, which was passed on 7 April 1933), the divine commitment of the ecclesia and the divine commandments. I personally believe that the recognition of the right of all beings as participants in a primary and common nature of humanity,

14 The Romanian translation of Eric Metaxas volume was published by Scriptum Publis- hing House, Oradea 2016, 735 p. 15 S. Payne Best, The Venlo Incident, Watford, Herts: Hutchinson 1950.

413 Constantin Necula the right to recognize their equality, the right to be recognized as human being by virtue of bearing the same image of God16 despite the fragility that distinguishes us, are the themes that go beyond Metaxas’ book and compel us to reassume many of the themes of the pastor-martyr’s thinking in the context of European theology17. Other contribution in the Romanian research field to Dietrich Bon- hoeffer’s life and work belong to E. Conțac, “Pastorul luteran Dietrich Bon- hoeffer, martir al rezistenței antinaziste în Germania lui Hitler” (Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martyr of Anti-Nazi Resistance in Hitler’s Ger- many)18 and R. Zerner’s article dedicated to him in the Evangelical Diction- ary of Theology19. Landmarks for further wider research Beyond the data on his life, it is worthwhile to record a brief analysis of some of the concepts that bring the martyr theologian closer to the homiletic vision of life that was common to many of the theologian preachers such as St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Anthony of Sourozh, father Calciu Dumitreasa, father Arsenie Boca, father Nicolae Bordașiu and Dimitrie Bejan or Nicolae Grebenea and many other witnesses especially in the difficult times of the European history. Without having been influenced by Bonhoeffer’s texts, they were touched by the same wing of the Holy Spirit. Synthesizing a rich bibliography in English also made available for the Romanian reader, R. Zerner writes: Bonhoeffer’s two years as a Nazi prisoner (1943–45), although in- itially a time of intense spiritual testing, led him to develop a rou- tine of disciplined contemplation and creativity, resulting in writ- ings focused on contemporary and future challenges facing the Christian Church. Assessing ’s role in “a world come

16 D. Bonhoeffer, Étique, p. 87-88. 17 Two syntheses ought to be mentioned here: André Dumas, Une théologie de la réalité: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Genève, Labor et Fides 1968 and the volume edited by H. Mottu and J. Perrin, Actualité de Dietrich Bonhoeffer en Europe Latine, Genève, Labor et Fides 2004. 18 Cristian Badiliţă, Emanuel Conţac (eds.), Şi cerul s-a umplut de sfinţi …: martiriul în antichitatea creştină şi în secolul XX. Actele Colocviului internaţional „Martiriul în antichitatea creştină şi în secolul XX: teme, dezbateri, personaje”, Sighet, 2–5 iunie 2011. (And Heaven Was Filled with Saints …: Martyrdom in Christian Antiquity and in the Twentieth Centu- ry. Papers of the International Colloquium “Martyrdom in Christian Antiquity and in the Twentieth Century: Issues, Debates, Characters,” Sighet, 2–5 June 2011), Bucharest, Curtea Veche Publishing House 2012, p. 475‒533. 19 Dicționarul Evanghelic de Teologie (Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, general Editor Wal- ter A. Elwell), Oradea, Cartea Creștină Publishing House 2012, 1298 p.

414 Dietrich Bonhoeffer – the Realism of Preaching

of age”, Bonhoeffer’s prison letters described a Christian as “a man for others” and the Church existing “for others”. “Who is Christ for us today? “ was his piercing query20. Zerner presents Bonhoeffer’s ideas of «religionless Christianity», which was sometimes taken out of context. The expression was used by Bonhoeffer in a letter addressed to his friend Eberhard Bethge, together with whom he had in common the heritage and theological interpretation. The statement is based on a critique of «religion» found in the writings of and , who distinguished between faith and religion. According to Lu- ther, religion comes from flesh, while faith comes from spirit. According to Bonhoeffer the religious act has always been partial, while faith involves the entire life of man. He believed that “Jesus calls men, not to a new religion, but to life” and Christian is summoned to share in God’s sufferings at the hands of a godless world21. His stress on a secular interpretation of Christian- ity reflects his perception of a historical evolution of Europe towards a com- pletely “religionless” era. Although some of his ideas belonging to the Tegel phase were later used by theologians who may not have shared his funda- mental assumptions and conception of world and life (Death of God theo- logians), Bonhoeffer’s older works continue to be accepted in traditional cir- cles of Christian piety, both by evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholic Christians. In these circles, books like (“costly grace” compared to “cheap grace”) and (focusing on discipline and balance of life) are very popular”22. His pastoral-catechumenal view could also be a path of dialogue with Orthodoxy, especially when considering his key question (“Who is Jesus Christ, for us, today?”) and the distinction be- tween religion and faith or life in Christ, which are beloved concepts of Or- thodox Homiletic Theology. The end of R. Zerner’s article is also remarkable for a certain mood that Dietrich Bonhoeffer can convey through his homi- letic construction. Bonhoeffer was also a source of inspiration and strength for all Christians, who suffered oppressive political regimes and challenged answers of theologians belonging both to the conservative and the Liberal realm of Christianity, expressed in secular and Marxist writings. Moreover in the Third World, especially in Latin America, the theology of liberation was based on his model of living and thinking. Born in a privileged class, but having a special sense of the limit-experiences of life, Bonhoeffer spoke

20 Ibidem, p. 169. 21 See also Eberhard Bethge (ed.), D. Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, New York, Touchstone 1997, p. 361-362. 22 Dicționarul Evanghelic de Teologie, p. 169.

415 Constantin Necula of the incomparable value of knowing the world from the bottom, namely from the perspective of the outcast, powerless and oppressed man. Thus he expressed and anticipated the central lesson that Christians should learn to- day, especially the privileged of the West23. From this perspective, we notice that some classic texts of Christian Homily belonging to the communist era, such as Richard Wumbrandt or Nicholas Steinhardt, assume the same spirit of resistance to evil, the same heartiness for the knowledge of God in the immediate conditions of existence24, being the source of inspiration for a large horizon of Homiletic expectation. For the years 1980-1987 Romanian Orthodoxy offers texts that came closer to Bonhoeffer’s way of expressing simplicity. They belong to Metro- politan Antonie Plămădeală. Listening carefully to the tones of theological thought, we can identify equal intervals between The Cost of Discipleship and a series of writings of the Orthodox metropolitan: Vocație și misiune în vremea noastră (Vocation and Mission Nowadays, 1984), Tradiție și libertate în spiritualitatea românească (Tradition and Freedom in Romanian Spiritual- ity, 1983) or later, Tâlcuiri noi la texte vechi. Predici (New Interpretations of Old Texts. Sermons, 1989) and Cuvinte la zile mari (Words on Great Days, 1989). I still believe, and it is worth a careful analysis, for the work of Met- ropolitan Antonie, Trei Ceasuri în iad (Three Hours in Hell, novel, 1970)25 – perhaps the first modern fresco of communism, preserved in some of the characters’ fragmentation, part of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s conception of life. Texts of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Romanian as sources of interfaith catechetical and homiletical research The first source on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s work made available for the Roma- nian researcher (not only Orthodox Christian), is the publication of the The Cost of Discipleship in 200926 translated by Ligia Taloş, edited by Emanuel Conțac. Extremely valuable for the Romanian reader is the introduction

23 Ibidem. 24 A beloved concept of Father Dumitru Stăniloae in defining the threefold knowledge of God: cataphatic, apophatic and in the concrete circumstances of life. 25 The general themes of the novel Three Hours in Hell are assumed in metaphorical key and links the orthodox theologian’s thinking to the Catholic and Protestant European social thinking (contemporary with the novel) such as the freedom of the person, the importance of facing social evil, confessing the truth, sacrifice and social redemption. As well as meditative and ascetic, the discourse of the novel – meaning ideas, concepts and languages – is very similar to the favourite themes of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer discourse in Ethics or Cost of Discipleship. A wider study will highlight the value of these aspects of comparative theology. 26 D. Bonhoeffer, Costul uceniciei, Cluj Napoca, Peregrinul Publishing House.

416 Dietrich Bonhoeffer – the Realism of Preaching by Christiane Tietz, professor of Systematic Theology and Social Ethics at the University of Mainz27. The introduction is followed by a series of Repere cronologice (Chronological Landmarks)28 in which can be seen the evolution of editing such a significant theological text in the world of Evangelism, starting with 1937, when on August 26 Bonhoeffer finished his Nachfloge and in November published it, until the publication of a corollary edition of Discipleship in 2001, at Fortress Press USA (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, 4th volume), with a series of valuable bibliographic notes and references. From Bonhoeffer’s Preface we retain the motivation of writing this vol- ume of Pastoral-catechumenal Theology with broad homiletic peculiarities: Es stellt sich in Zeiten der kirchlichen Erneuerung von selbst ein, daß uns die Heilige Schrift reicher wird. Hinter den notwendigen Tages- und Kampfparolen der kirchlichen Auseinandersetzung regt sich ein stärkeres Suchen und Fragen nach dem, um den es allein geht, nach Jesus selbst. Was hat Jesus uns sagen wollen? Was will er heute von uns? Wie hilft er uns dazu, heute treue Chris- ten zu sein? Nicht was dieser oder jener Mann der Kirche will, ist uns zuletzt wichtig, sondern was Jesus will, wollen wir wissen. Sein eigenes Wort wollen wir hören, wenn wir zur Predigt gehen. Daran liegt und nicht nur um unsertwillen, sondern auch um all der vielen willen, denen die Kirche und ihre Botschaft fremd ge- worden ist. Wir sind wohl auch der Meinung, daß ganz andere Menschen das Wort hören und auch ganz andere Menschen sich wieder abwenden würden, wenn es dazu käme, daß Jesus selbst und Jesus allein mit seinem Worte in der Predigt unter uns wäre29. He claims that in spite of so many human, institutional, and doctrinal things that hinder the listeners’ reception and therefore a sincere decision to be liv- ing Christians, the sermon of the Church is still the word of God. He argues that it is not true that every critical word directed against preaching means a rejection of Christ or a proof of an anti-Christian and highlights the im- portance of communion with these people who need the pure Word of God. I have to accept that his words match perfectly with the conception of the need of reformation in the attitude and content not only of the Ortho- dox Christian preaching but of the preaching in general, which today shake the modern Christian consciousness. Bonhoeffer’s insistence on release of preaching from all pressures becomes a leit-motif in the modern conscious- ness of Christian preaching, unbalanced by extremism and misuse of con-

27 Ibidem, p. 13-23. 28 Ibidem, p. 25-31. 29 Idem, Nachfolge, 15. edition, München, Chr. Kaiser Verlag 1985, p. 7-8.

417 Constantin Necula temporary willingness to communicate. While a major thirst for Christian word and deed is seeking for watering, the institutionalized incompetence produces torpid minds and mediocre preachers. In this context The Cost of Discipleship could suggest some profound improvements on preaching. The Orthodox Christian reader can enormously acquire from the homiletic theology subjected to the comparison of the reader. I think we can retain the systematic description of his work as a challenge to the Christian con- sciousness of preaching. Someone who, in the respect of the alternative of information, seeks to discover through preaching or homily the most rep- resentative theological writing concerning the communication of the Word of God, cannot ignore a number of authors of the Protestant side, of course taking into account the classical differences. A possible history of Christian thinking places Bonhoeffer in the line with Karl Barth, , Reinhold Niebuhr or Paul Tillich, Karl Rahner, Jurgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, but also with a series of theological trends that would generate the postmodern thinking of the Western Church: process theology, libera- tion theology, Pentecostalism, feminist theology, etc.30. In order to discover the genesis of such thought like that of Bonhoef- fer, concerning “discipleship” both as a phenomenon of spiritual growth and of release from the tyranny of the word of the Church that has no basis in the Gospel and no intention to heal and strengthen the human nature, we should start from a series of readings, which are born not only in the patristic or post-patristic thinking, but in many missionary contexts raising in Christ peoples and confessing mentalities. It is advisable to have the interest to read the biographies of George Müller31 or A.W. Toezer32, as well as a series of studies of spirituality on discipleship starting with Charles H. Spurgeon’s sermons33 about awakening, as well as Samuel Chadwick’s works34, or that of Ian Macpherson35. We should add other names and works such as these of

30 John Hill, History of Christian Thought, Oxford, Lion Books 2003. For this paper we used the translation into Romanian: Istoria gândirii creştine. Istoria fascinantă a marilor gânditori creştini şi contribuţia lor la modelarea lumii aşa cum o ştim, Oradea, Casa Cărţii Publishing House 2007, p. 266-331. 31 George Müller, Autobiografia lui George Müller, Suceava, Perla Suferinţei Publishing House 2009. 32 See James L. Snyder, Viaţa lui A.W.Toezer. În urmărirea lui Dumneze, Suceava, Perla Suferinţei Publishing House 2009. 33 Charles H. Spurgeon, Predici despre trezire, Suceava, Perla Suferinţei Publishing House 2010. 34 Samuel Chadwick, Cărarea Rugăciunii, Suceava, Perla Suferinţei Publishing House 2009. 35 Ian Macpherson, Povara Domnului. Natura predicării şi omul care predică, Suceava, Perla Suferinţei Publishing House 2009.

418 Dietrich Bonhoeffer – the Realism of Preaching

Charles Finney, William C. Burns, John Piper or Martyn Lloyd Jones. Even though they did not belong to Lutheranism, they somehow developed an enthusiastic preaching work. While enumerating these names, I also assert that it will be difficult for the Romanian Orthodox theology to identify sources of some themes of Bonhoeffer’s writings, although many of them are made available today through the works of those theologians that I have mentioned above, who were active in their communities either before or af- ter Bonhoeffer’s moment and delivered speeches which contain and develop similar themes from the point of view of communion theory in the Church. With regard to the catechetical dimension of Bonhoeffer’s research, we consider that modern Christians should read both the chapters about the discipleship (Call to discipleship, Discipleship and cross, Discipleship and individual)36 and his notable contribution to understand the educational dimension of spiritual life, contained in his commentary on the (Matthew 5, 6 and 7)37. I believe that such readings are meant to improve the spirituality of a preacher or what we call his spiritual formation in order to hold the attention to the cultural dimension of the preaching. Life together, Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible(Gemeinsames Leb- en/Das Gebetbuch der Bibel)38 published in Romanian can be reassumed by the homiletic culture of Orthodox Christianity. It is worth noticing, even as additional spiritual information, that the way of thinking life in commun- ion or the ministry as such, is a positive challenge to the pastoral thinking of Orthodoxy. We should also retain the way in which Bonhoeffer sees the word of prayer: So müssen wir also beten lernen. Das Kind lernt sprechen, weil der Vater zu ihm spricht. Es lernt die Sprache des Vaters. So lernen wir zu Gott sprechen, weil Gott zu uns gesprochen hat und spricht. An der Sprache des Vaters im Himmel lernen seine Kinder mit ihm reden. Gottes eigene Worte nachsprechend, fangen wir an zu ihm zu beten. Nicht in der falschen und verworrenen Sprache un- seres Herzens, sondern in der klaren und reinen Sprache, die Gott in Jesus Christus zu uns gesprochen hat, sollen wir zu Gott reden

36 D. Bonhoeffer, Nachfolge, “Der Ruf in die Nachfolge” p. 28-52, “Die Nachfolge und das Kreuz”, p. 61-69, “Die Nachfolge und der Einzelne”, p. 70-78. 37 Ibidem, “Die Bergpredigt”, p. 79-156. 38 For this paper I used the German edition: Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Albrecht Schönherr (Eds.), D. Bonhoeffer, Gemeinsames Leben/Das Gebetbuch der Bibel, München, Chr. Kaiser Verlag 2008; and also the Romanian edition: Viața împreună. Psalmii – cartea de rugăciuni a Bibliei, Cluj Napoca, Peregrinul Publishing House 2015, translated by Ligia Taloș, Preface and Afterword by Gerhard Ludwig Müller and Albrecht Schönherr.

419 Constantin Necula

und will er uns hören. Gottes Sprache in Jesus Christus begegnet uns in der Heiligen Schrift. Wollen wir mit Gewißheit und Freude beten, so wird das Wort der Heiligen Schrift der feste Grund un- seres Gebetes sein müssen. Hier wissen wir, daß Jesus Christus, das Wort Gottes, uns beten lehrt. Die Worte, die von Gott kommen, werden die Stufen sein, auf denen wir zu Gott finden39. Perhaps through this way of thinking, the spiritual construction of preaching had particularly influenced the Protestant moral culture and Christian cul- ture in general. The charismatic quality of his theology has been placed under the auspices of this theology of preaching. Renzo Gerardi, one of the greatest historians of the Christian Morality, placed him within the kerigmatic the- ology as a key-factor in identifying the stages of development of the organic principle of Christian morality40. Such christological effusions, beautiful texts and meaningful analogies that remind one of the of the early Church Fathers’ way of thinking, penetrate very rarely into the modern exegesis: Wenn wir daher die Gebete der Bibel und besonders die Psalmen lesen und beten wollen, so müssen wir nicht zuerst danach fragen, was sie mit uns, sondern was sie mit Jesus Christus zu tun haben. Wir müssen fragen, wie wir die Psalmen als Gottes Wort verste- hen können, und dann erst können wir sie mitbeten. Es kommt also nicht darauf an, ob die Psalmen gerade das ausdrücken, was wir gegenwärtig in unserem Herzen fühlen. Vielleicht ist es gerade nötig, daß wir gegen unser eigenes Herz beten, um recht zu beten. Nicht was wir gerade beten wollen, ist wichtig, sondern worum Gott von uns gebeten sein will. Wenn wir auf uns allein gestellt wären, so würden wir wohl auch vom Vaterunser oft nur die vierte Bitte beten. Aber Gott will es anders. Nicht die Armut unseres Herzens, sondern der Reichtum des Wortes Gottes soll unser Ge- bet bestimmen. Wenn also die Bibel auch ein Gebetbuch enthält, so lernen wir daraus, daß zum Worte Gottes nicht nur dar Wort gehört, das er uns zu sagen hat, sondern auch das Wort, das er von uns hören will, weil es das Wort seines lieben Sohnes ist. Das ist eine große Gnade, daß Gott uns sagt, wie wir mit ihm sprechen und Gemeinschaft haben können. Wir können es, indem wir im Namen Jesu Christi beten. Dazu sind uns die Psalmen gegeben, daß wir sie im Namen Jesu Christi beten lernen41.

39 Idem, Gemeinsames Leben, p. 107-108. In Romanian edition, p. 106. 40 Renzo Gerardi, Storia della Morale. Interpretazioni teologiche dell’esperienza cristiana. Peri- odi e correnti, autori e opere, Bologna, Edizioni Dehoniane 2003, p. 458-459. 41 D. Bonhoeffer, Gemeinsames Leben, p. 108-109. Roumanian edition, p. 107.

420 Dietrich Bonhoeffer – the Realism of Preaching

We are talking about two texts from 1939 and 1940. It is obvious that Bon- hoeffer also sees a catechetical construction of Psalter, for he identifies its structure of biblical pedagogy, in which he undertakes the exegesis, revealing ten major themes that clarify the content of Psalter: Creation, Law, the histo- ry of Salvation, Messiah, Church, life, suffering, the guilt, enemies, and the end42. Every stage of this classification is basically a carefully constructed and clear catechesis. From this point of view, we retain the truth of an analysis of Bonhoeffer’sEthics (posthumously published in 1949 with Bethge’s care), which fits perfectly both with his homiletic exegesis and his pastoral-cate- chumenal conception: Der Ursprung der christlichen Ethik ist nicht die Wirklichkeit des eigenen Ich, nicht die Wirklichkeit der Welt, aber auch nicht die Wirklichkeit der Normen und Werte, sondern die Wirklich- keit Gottes in seiner Offenbarung in Jesus Christus (…). In Je- sus Christus ist die Wirklichkeit Gottes in die Wirklichkeit dieser Welt eingegangen43. The Church is not only a building, but it is also a body, namely the Body of Christ that spread God’s reality into the world: So ist auch die Kirche Jesu Christi der Ort – das heißt der Raum – in der Welt, an dem die Herrschaft Jesu Christi über die ganze Welt bezeugt und verkündigt wird (…). Der Raum der Kirche ist nicht dazu da, um der Welt ein Stück ihres Bereiches streitig zu machen, sondern gerade um der Welt zu bezeugnen, daß sie Welt bleibe, nämlich die von Gott geliebte und versöhnte Welt. Es ist also nicht so, daß die Kirche ihren Raum über den Raum der Welt ausdehnen wollte oder müßte, sie begehrt nicht mehr Raum als sie braucht, um der Welt mit dem Zeugnis von Jesus Christus und von ihrer Versöhnung mit Gott durch ihn zu dienen. Die Kirche kann ihren eigenen Raum auch nur dadurch verteidigen, daß sie nicht um ihn, sondern um das Heil der Welt kämpft44. The principle of the primacy of the content of Revelation contained in the preaching of Christian Morality will thus remain a noticeable and inexhaust- ible foundation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s confessing consciousness. A final text that should be recorded by the analysis of milestones that I propose is from Bonhoeffer’s Homiletics course. Beginning in September 1933, Bonhoeffer initiated his preliminary collaboration with Pastor Martin

42 Ibidem, p. 117-131. 43 D. Bonhoeffer, Ethik, p. 33-39. 44 Ibidem, p. 49.

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Niemöller to organize The Pastors’ Emergency League (). In May 1934 he was part of the collective that founded the , a line of confessing resistance of the Gospel in the crazy world of Nazi Ger- many. In the struggle of the historical moment marked by the Nürenberg Laws or by people’s vows of loyalty to Hitler and his dictatorship (April 20, 1938), the seminaries of the Confessing Church centered in Finkenwalde (June 24, 1935) appear as seeds of the power of the Gospel of Christ. They were cells of the theological resistance. The text of this Preaching course45 was researched and presented by us in Duc in Altum- an Introduction to Catechetics46, as a result of our wish to offer to the Romanian Orthodox student some of Bonhoeffer’s powerful words. We note here some of his ideas concerning preaching. Therefore, the sermon has a double purpose, according to Bonhoeffer: namely both establishing and edifying the commu- nity. The separation between believers and unbelievers in the first centuries was clear and motivated, but the isolation in that early age is not subject of preaching. However, in Constantine’s time and with the conversion of the sermon into mass sermon the topic became problematic. Up to this day we face the problem of a fair relationship between the missionary sermon and the internal sermon based on the internal construction of the com- munity. Shleiermacher considered preaching to be an expression, both of a preachers’s own conscience and of the faithful community, as it is in reality, getting in touch with the immediate reality of the community. The Church of England (The Anglican Church) lost hundreds of thousands of believers, who became Methodists, because it did not care about this dual purpose of preaching, and especially because it did not know how to make the dif- ference between the foundation and the edification of the preached word, losing its missionary dimension, and also because it continued to learn about realities that did not concern the community. Therefore, our question is: How do we arrive at an authentic sermon in which the act of substantiation in the faith and the building (edification), growth of community in which keryssein (announcement), didaskein (teaching), evangelizesthai (evangelize) and martyrein (confessing) could be assumed and then properly correlated with one other? How could they be correlated?47. In this context, the work

45 The translation of the text was made after: La Parola predicata. Corso di omiletica a Finkenwal- de 1935-1939, Claudiana-Torino, Edizione italiana a cura di Ermanno Genre 1995, p. 15-18. 46 Constantin Necula, Duc in Altum- Ieșiți în larg. O Introducere în catehetică, Sibiu, And- reiana Publishing House 2014, p. 164-173. 47 D. Bonhoeffer, The preached Word. Homiletics Course from Finkenwalde, 1938-1939, I. “Historical References”, Italian edition, translated by C. Necula, in: C. Necula, Duc in Altum, p. 169-170.

422 Dietrich Bonhoeffer – the Realism of Preaching appears important to us, not simply as a book of theology, but as a proof that theology can be done in the tense conditions, when God is rejected from the people by their brothers. His theology is a response to the culpable killing of the spirit of human freedom, as well as the restriction of God’s freedom through killing libertinage. Far from the frivolity of an insipid theology, Bonhoeffer proved his own testimony with his work. We retain what we find important for the general homiletic culture, as we have presented in our above-mentioned work: 1. The New Testament knows different ways of expression in order to emphasize the content of the word to preach: so, we find the Greek verbs keryssein (to announce, to proclaim), euaggelizein and euaggelizesthai (proclaim, to announce the good news), didaskein (to teach), martyrein (confess, testify), presbeuein (to be sent). 2. The verb kerissein (to announce) has the character of a public an- nouncement, of proclaiming something from a person, who was entrusted with a commitment (outside the system in which it oc- curs, n.tr.), and sometimes has the meaning of a novelty - news. The verb euaggelizesthai (evangelize) emphasizes the content of the object, the happy content of the news, of the euggelion; the concordance of the two words euaggelizesthai and angelos (sent, messenger) highlights the idea of the message, of the commit- ment, in order to show that somebody is mandated to be the mes- senger of the good news. And so, the priest announces from the pulpit that the victory has been won! (The news from Marathon). Even if didaskein (instruct, teach) and didache (education) also highlight the contents related to the announcement, their objec- tivity in communicating something important to the knowledge plane, keryssein (to announce, to proclaim) and euaggelizesthai (evangelize) have an immediate relevance in missionary preach- ing. Didaskein (teach, instruct) is a verb originated in the work of edification of an already established community; learn, instruct, therefore teach (doctrine, n.tr.) everyday a foreign teaching com- ing from outside. 3. The verbmartyrein (testify, to bear witness) and the noun martyria (witness, record) especially refer either to Jesus testifying before Pilate or that of Timothy before several witnesses (see John 18. 36-37 and I Tim 6.12-13). It especially makes the fundamental connection between the proclaimer and what he proclaims. In this regard, we can talk about the fact that we are witnesses of something that does not belong to us, something from outside,

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foreign – and sometimes it also refers to my own testimony. This is not the time to present our vision of the dissociation between ministry and person. This concept (minister-ministry) appears especially in the Acts of the Apostles and the Pastoral Epistles, in which this dissociation between the person and the ministry is virtually abolished (cf. I Tim. 4.16). This is probably the only point where dissociation becomes visible, for “God’s message is not imprisoned!” (II Tim. 2.9). Instead, things go differently in the environment of the theology of Reformation48. 4. The Greek verb omilein in the New Testament does not mean “to preach” in public, which suggests that it is an act of speaking with confidence, trusting the other (word of entrusting...). This can be seen in Luke 24.14-15 (the disciples on the way to Emmaus) and in the text of I. Cor. 15.33. Only in a later period this word would evolve to suggest the science of preaching (18th century). 5. With regard to kerygma, the public proclamation of the Gospel in early Christianity, there is also the encounter with “closed gates” (Acts 2.46). In these limited circles the true sermon, or the prop- er preaching, is born before the community. The first clue in this respect is in St. Justin the Martyr’s Apology (I.67). After reading a text, most likely Lectio Continua, the person who presided over the community gave a short speech before the assembly. This Exortatio becomes homily, in which inter alia the members of the Christian assembly are forewarned of possible heresies. The first proper hom- ily that reached us is the Second Epistle of St. Clement the Roman. The homily as an interpretation of Scripture related to a proper reading becomes preaching. At Origen, homily is nothing more than a discourse uttered in a closed circle of Christians, but there are also the catechumens and pagans, who were able to participate in that part of the Christian assembly. However, starting with Ori- gen, the arcane discipline is born. The access to the Sacraments, to confess the faith (the utterance of the Creed, n.tr.) and Our Father’s prayer were reserved for the closed community. This discipline was born to guard against the mockery of the world. Therefore, the preaching had its own development separately from the internal cult of the ecclesia, of the community, and was able to expose itself even in the presence of catechumens, and of the pagans, as we have

48 Bonhoeffer wants to say that, starting with the Protestant Reform, a very clear distinction is made between ministry and person, D. Bonhoeffer, La Parola predicata, p. note 3, p. 16, also in: C. Necula, Duc in Altum, note 211, p. 165.

424 Dietrich Bonhoeffer – the Realism of Preaching

already pointed out. It is necessary to highlight that the New Tes- tament itself records the possibility for the heathen to listen to the preaching of the Word (cf I Cor. 14.23). 6. Thus starting with Origen the simple preaching of the beginnings becomes homily composed with art, synthetic or thematic ser- mon. A thematic sermon starts where – as the Scripture indicates – a theme is associated (for example one concerning Mary or other figures of saints), with other themes related to the Chris- tian community, determined by either the tragic circumstances of Christian life or some expectations of the Community. See a lot of examples in Father’s sermons. 7. Thereby, the preaching has a double purpose: to establish and edify the community. The separation between believers and un- believers in the first centuries is clear and “motivated”, and the isolation in the early age was not a subject in the preaching of that time. But the issue, as I have already mentioned, became problematic in Constantine’s time, and with the conversion of the preaching into mass sermon49. Conclusion Our study can only point to a series of landmarks on the path recognizing the effect of Bonhoeffer’s realism on Christian preaching. There is no room here for a detailed analysis of his theoretical and practical Homiletics, but we hope that his work will be correctly researched by the Romanian Or- thodox scholars in order to improve the ecumenical culture of preaching. Bonhoeffer’s contribution is important for us not only because of clarifying terminology related with preaching, but also because of thoroughness of his life and mission in Christ. The dynamic method anchored in pastoral re- alism proposed by Bonhoeffer delights and opens up multiple possibilities of gathering the confessing efforts around common platforms of preaching that could heal of the homiletic insularity we suffer today, regardless of the Christian confession in which we find the food of our salvation. The distri- bution of the translations of his works in the libraries of the major university centers, where I did research (Lisbon, Paris, Toledo, or Rome - Salesian In- stitute) proves, if necessary, that Bonhoeffer still inspires Christian exegesis and homily alike. Perhaps here is the great paradox of his theology. His mar- tyrdom offered his thought to the Church’s pleroma, namely also to us, the Christian generation of Europe, looking for its confessing role.

49 Ibidem.

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