DOCSLIB.ORG

Scripture and Myth in Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Scripture and Myth in Dietrich Bonhoeffer Fides etffistoria 25,1 (1993): 12-25 SCRIPTURE AND MYTH IN DIETRICH BONHOEFFER By Richard Weikart, University of Iowa Dietrich Bonhoeffer has become a mythic hero in the pantheon of late twentieth-century Christianity. Admiration for him flows from such diverse and contradictory movements as fundamentalism and radical death-of-God theology, as well as from most groups located between these poles. American evangelicals1 have joined the chorus of his praise and actively promote his works. A recent review of A Testament of Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Christianity Today enjoins a predominantly evangelical audience to "sit... at the feet of Dietrich Bonhoeffer," whose life "rings with Christian authenticity."2 Two guidebooks to evangelical literature list Bonhoeffer's writings as important reading material for evangelicals.3 My own contacts with evangelicals and funda- mentalists confirm that Bonhoeffer enjoys widespread approbation among them. Numerous factors have contributed to the popularity of Bonhoeffer among evangelicals. Unlike so many of his contemporaries, he showed great courage in opposing Hitler's policies. However, this could also be said of Karl Barth, the theologian exercising the greatest influence on Bonhoeffer. Barth took a decisive stand against Nazism and penned the Barmen Declaration, which was the manifesto for the Confessing Church, yet most evangelicals reject his neo- orthodox theology. Of course, Bonhoeffer gained great stature by his death at the hand of the Nazis, which is usually described as a Christian martyrdom. Bonhoeffer's reputation among evangelicals, however, does not rest solely on his political involvement. Two of his theological works, The Cost of Discipleship 12i ' The words evangelical and evangelicalism will be defined in this essay as pertaining to the movement in the late twentieth century (especially in the United States) that emphasizes the inerrancy of scripture and is exemplified by Carl F. H. Henry and Christianity Today. Bonhoeffer was an evangelical in the sense of belonging to the German Evangelical Church, which is the official title of the Lutheran church in Germany, but this is not the sense in which I am using the term. 2 Kevin A. Miller, "A Man for Others," Christianity Today 35.8 (22 July 1991): 58. 3 Edith L. Blumhofer and Joel A. Carpenter, Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism: A Guide to the Sources (New York: Garland, 1990), 327; Mark Lou Branson, The Reader's Guide to the Best Evangelical Books (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1982), 2, 104, 149. SCRIPTURE AND MYTH IN DIETRICH BONHOEFFER (1937) and Life Together (1939), are favorite books in evangelical circles.4 Since Bonhoeffer was so closely allied with Barth, it is not surprising that evangel- icals sympathetic with Barth respect Bonhoeffer's work so highly.5 However, even evangelicals hostile to Earth's theology endorse Bonhoeffer's works.6 The evangelical attacks on neo-orthodoxy have generally ignored Bonhoeffer, con- centrating instead on Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, Emil Brunner, and others. By their uncritical support for Bonhoeffer, evangelicals have created and perpetuated a myth. The depiction of Bonhoeffer as an evangelical is no closer to the truth than the presentation of him as an atheist, which is how the death- of-God theologians tend to portray him. Evangelicals often misread Bonhoeffer because they are unaware of the theological and philosophical context of his work. Words that mean one thing to Bonhoeffer can mean something quite different to evangelicals. Further, evangelicals tend to read Bonhoeffer's works the way they read the Bible—literally, if possible. In Bonhoeffer's case, this is problematic, as I will demonstrate. In order to illustrate the chasm separating Bonhoeffer from evangelical—and especially fundamentalist—theology, I will explore Bonhoeffer's view of scripture in this essay. My analysis will demonstrate Bonhoeffer's simultaneous acceptance of biblical criticism and the primacy and authority of all scripture. His views concerning history, myth, and language must be understood in order to explain his paradoxical stance. While emphatically rejecting a dualistic ontology that separates the spiritual from the secular or the earthly from the heavenly, an epistemological dualism underlay Bonhoeffer's view of scripture.7 Although he rejected many aspects of liberal theology, he continued its tradition of distin- guishing between religious and secular truth as two completely distinct realms of knowledge. Bonhoeffer's career can be divided into three periods: (1) pre-1931, during which time he studied under liberal theologians at the University of Berlin, embraced Earth's dialectical theology, and wrote his first two theological works; (2) 1931-1939, the period including the Church Struggle, during which he pub- lished The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together, (3) 1939-1945, the time of Bon- hoeffer's prison writings. Bonhoeffer's attitude toward the scriptures changed some from one period to the next. Even a superficial reading of his major works reveals this. In his doctoral dissertation, Sanctorum Communio (1927) and in his "Habilitationsschrift," Act and Being (1930), scriptures play a subordinate role and Bonhoeffer cited philosophers more often than scripture to substantiate his ^ ~ 4 Blumhofer, Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism, 327; Branson, Reader's Guide, 2, 149. 5 Donald G. Bloesch, Freedom for Obedience: Evangelical Ethics in Contemporary Times (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987), 10-11. 6 John Warwick Montgomery, The Suicide of Christian Theology (Minneapolis: Bethany Fel- lowship, 1971), 476. 7 On ontological dualism, see Eberhard Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Man of Vision, Man of Courage, trans. Eric Mossbacher et al. (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), 777. Richard Weikart points. The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together provide quite a contrast, since in them scripture is everything and philosophers are rarely if ever mentioned. Further these latter two works enjoin the use of scripture and hold it up as a standard and authority. In his prison writings scripture remained important, but Bonhoeffer began grappling with the question of interpretation of scripture, a theme absent from earlier writings. The change in Bonhoeffer's life and thought in 1931 was so pronounced that his friend and biographer Eberhard Bethge described it as a conversion experience. (This should not be confused with the contemporary evangelical understanding of conversion, for which Bonhoeffer had no sympathy.) Although Bonhoeffer rarely mentioned his experience, in 1936 he claimed it "transformed my life to the present day. For the first time I discovered the Bible.... It was a great liberation."8 From that time forward Bonhoeffer was captivated by the Bible, especially the Sermon on the Mount. The transformation to the third period was not so clear-cut and 1939 is only an approximation. Nevertheless during this final period Bonhoeffer appears to have lost some of his earlier zeal for the Bible. In January 1941, June 1942, and March 1944 he admitted to Bethge that he went days and weeks without reading the Bible much, though sometimes he would read it voraciously.9 He wrote: I am astonished that I live and can live for days without the Bible—I would not consider it obedience, but auto-suggestion, if I would compel myself to do it. ... I know that I only need to open my own books to hear what may be said against all this.... But I feel resistance against everything "religious" growing in me.10 As he wrestled with the problem of interpreting scripture, his attention shifted from the Sermon on the Mount and the New Testament to the Old Testament. These shifts in the treatment of scripture, however, important as they are, represent differences in emphasis and attitude more than doctrinal differences. Underlying the superficial twists and turns of his theology were important con- tinuities, which are apparent when one compares his early works with his Letters and Papers from Prison.11 Although some of his views submerged during the 8 Ibid., 154-55. 9 Bonhoeffer to Bethge, 31 January 1941, in Gesammelte Schriften (hereafter cited as GS), ed. Eberhard Bethge (Munich: Christian Kaiser Berlag, 1958 ff.), 5:397; 25 January 1942, in GS, 5:420; and 19 March 1944, in Widerstand und Ergebung: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft (hereafter WE), (Munich: Christian Kaiser Verlag, 1954), 163 (Eng. trans., Letters 14 and Papers from Prison [hereafter LPP], trans. Reginald Fuller et al. [New York: Macmillan, 1971], 234). 10 Bonhoeffer to Bethge, 25 June 1942, in GS, 5:420. 11 Scholars upholding continuity in Bonhoeffer's thought include John D. Godsey, The Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 264; Andre Dumas, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Theologian of Reality, trans. Robert McAfee Brown (New York: Macmillan, 1971), 154; Ernst Feil, The Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, trans. Martin Rumscheidt (Phila- delphia: Fortress Press, 1985), 54; and others. David H. Hopper, however, in A Dissent on Bonhoeffer (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975), 97, argues for discontinuity in Bonhoef- fer's thought, but does not show discontinuity in the area of scripture interpretation. SCRIPTURE AND MYTH IN DIETRICH BONHOEFFER middle period, they were never entirely absent. Toward the end of his life Bonhoeffer denied that he had changed much: "Neither of us [Bonhoeffer and Bethge] has really experienced a break in our life."12 He also acknowledged in 1944 that he "still carries within himself the heritage of liberal theology."13 Indeed liberal theology dominated the University of Berlin theological fac- ulty while Bonhoeffer studied there from 1924 to 1927 under Reinhold Seeberg. The famous church historian Adolf von Harnack was not only one of his teachers, but a personal friend whom he admired.14 Bonhoeffer was thoroughly imbued with biblical criticism and always rejected attempts to dispense with it. In 1933 he wrote that the doctrine of verbal inspiration of scripture must be rejected in favor of biblical criticism. However, he indicated that biblical criticism is not decisive in interpreting scripture.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Religionless Christianity Excerpts from Letters and Papers from Prison
    Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Religionless Christianity Excerpts from Letters and Papers from Prison The following excerpts are taken from Letters and Papers from Prison1, a collection of writings by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. These writings were composed by Bonhoeffer between April 1943 and February 1945, while he was imprisoned in Germany. Unless otherwise noted, all of the following excerpts are taken from letters Bonhoeffer wrote to his friend and colleague Eberhard Bethge, who later edited this volume of Bonhoeffer’s writings. --------------- From the Preface by Eberhard Bethge Here is an account of the life lived by some conscientious Christians and others at a greater remove from belief, when the dilemma of both an external and an internal destruction came upon them. It was at precisely that point that Bonhoeffer’s visions of a future Christianity took shape. (p. x) --------------- …my fear and distrust of ‘religiosity’ have become greater than ever here. The fact that the Israelites never uttered the name of God always makes me think, and I can understand it better as I go on. (p. 135) --------------- You would be surprised, and perhaps even worried, by my theological thoughts and the conclusions that they lead to: and this is where I miss you most of all, because I don’t know anyone else with whom I could so well discuss them to have my thinking clarified. What is bothering me incessantly is the question what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today. The time when people could be told everything by means of words, whether theological or pious, is over, and so is the time of inwardness and conscience – and that means the time of religion in general.
    [Show full text]
  • A Preliminary Investigation and Critique of the Ethics of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
    Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1968 A Preliminary Investigation and Critique of the Ethics of Dietrich Bonhoeffer David W. Clark Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Clark, David W., "A Preliminary Investigation and Critique of the Ethics of Dietrich Bonhoeffer" (1968). Master's Theses. 2118. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/2118 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1968 David W. Clark A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION AND CRITIQUE OF THE ETHICS OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER by David W. Clark A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School, Loyola University, Ohicago, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for !he Degree of Master of Arts J~e 1968 PREFACE This paper is a preliminary investigation of the "Christian Ethics" of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in terms of its self-consistency and sufficiency for moral guidance. As Christian, Bonhoefferts ethic serves as a concrete instance of the ways in which reli­ gious dogmas are both regulative and formative of human behavioro Accordingly, this paper will study (a) the internal consistency of the revealed data and structural principles within Bonhoef­ ferts system, and (b) the significance of biblical directives for moral decisionso The question of Bonhoefferfs "success," then, presents a double problem.
    [Show full text]
  • Faith and Politics: an Augustinian Reflection Anfaith Augustinian and Politics: Reflection an Augustinian Reflection Robin Lovin Robin Lovin Robin Lovin
    AN OCCASIONAL PAPER AN OCCASIONAL PAPER VOLUME 29 VAON LUMEOCC A29SIONAL PAPER VOLUME 29 Faith and Politics: Faith and Politics: An Augustinian Reflection AnFaith Augustinian and Politics: Reflection An Augustinian Reflection Robin Lovin Robin Lovin Robin Lovin THE CARY M. MAGUIRE CENTER THE CARY M. MAGUIRE CENTER FOR ETHICS & PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY THE CARY M. MAGUIRE CENTER FOR ETHICS & PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY FOR ETHICS & PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY DALLAS, TEXAS SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY DALLAS, TEXAS DALLAS, TEXAS VOLUME 1 “The Private and Public Intellectual in the World and the Academy” James K. Hopkins VOLUME 2 “Managed Care: Some Basic Ethical Issues” James F. Childress Part of the Maguire Ethics Center’s mission is to “provide moral reflection VOLUME 3 “Journalism as a High Profession in Spite of Itself” William Lee Miller on contemporary issues.” Certainly, one of the more visible ways we do that VOLUME 4 “The New Media: The Internet, Democracy, Free Speech and the Richard O. Mason is by providing a venue for customary scholarly discourse for select SMU Management of Temperance” professors, and occasionally, visiting scholars. VOLUME 5 “Look, her lips’: Softness of Voice, Construction of Character in King Lear” Michael Holahan In ancient Athens, elders would provide an oral narration intended to pass VOLUME 6 “Pilgrimage and the Desire for Meaning” Bonnie Wheeler along the values, customs and beliefs from one generation to the next one. By the Renaissance, the practice transformed into written form through public VOLUME 7 “Politics as a Calling” Joseph L. Allen essays designed to be widely shared among community members.
    [Show full text]
  • Militant Liturgies: Practicing Christianity with Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, and Weil
    religions Article Militant Liturgies: Practicing Christianity with Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, and Weil J. Aaron Simmons Department of Philosophy, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA; [email protected] Abstract: Traditional philosophy of religion has tended to focus on the doxastic dimension of religious life, which although a vitally important area of research, has often come at the cost of philosophical engagements with religious practice. Focusing particularly on Christian traditions, this essay offers a sustained reflection on one particular model of embodied Christian practice as presented in the work of Søren Kierkegaard. After a discussion of different notions of practice and perfection, the paper turns to Kierkegaard’s conception of the two churches: the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant. Then, in light of Kierkegaard’s defense of the latter and critique of the former, it is shown that Kierkegaard’s specific account gets appropriated and expanded in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s account of “costly grace” and “religionless Christianity,” and Simone Weil’s conception of “afflicted love.” Ultimately, it is suggested that these three thinkers jointly present a notion of “militant liturgies” that offers critical and constructive resources for contemporary philosophy of religion. Keywords: Kierkegaard; Bonhoeffer; Weil; philosophy of religion; liturgy; practice; Christianity Citation: Simmons, J. Aaron. 2021. 1. Introduction Militant Liturgies: Practicing It is often the case that philosophical discussions of Christianity overstate the unity Christianity with Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, and Weil. Religions 12: by which the Christian traditions operate. In the name of referential precision, perhaps 340. https://doi.org/10.3390/ we should only ever speak of “Christianities” or, as this special issue theme admirably rel12050340 does, “Christian traditions”.
    [Show full text]
  • A Level Philosopy, Ethics and the Study of Religion
    Philosophy: Investigations are upon rational thinking, striving to make no unexamined assumptions and no leaps based on faith or pure analogy. Ethics: Encompasses right conduct and good living. How do we decide upon right and wrong and which authority takes priority? Developments of Christian Thought: What will I study? Ethics: Ethical theories Philosophy: Natural law: Is morality innate, God given? Kantian Ethics: Are we duty bound to Ancient Greek Influences behave in a certain way? Plato Utilitarianism: Does the masses always Aristotle take priority over the alone individual Religious Ethics: Does morality only come Traditional arguments from those who have a belief God? Cosmological: Does the universe need a Ethical issues: Embryo research, theft ext. cause? Meta Ethics: ‘The gun is good.’ How can Teleological: Is there evidence for design in this be a valid statement? the world? Sexual Ethics: Does following our duty Religious Language: If something cannot provide us with the best guidance towards be proven, is it then not true? sex Attributes of God. Euthanasia: Miracles: How can an arbitrary God be Free Will and Determinism: Is there such worthy of worship? thing as free will, are all our actions are Religious Experience: If there is a God, are predetermine? there likely to be experiences of him? The Conscience: Are humans motivated by Evil and suffering: Is there a justification self- love and benevolence? for evil and suffering in the world Religious identity: The role of faith, works Arguments for the existence of God: and rituals. What is the evidence for existence of God? The nature and function of religion.
    [Show full text]
  • Proceedings Chapter Reference
    Proceedings Chapter Editors' Introduction CHALAMET, Christophe, et al. Abstract Introduction to the Volume "Game Over? Reconsidering Eschatology" Reference CHALAMET, Christophe, et al. Editors' Introduction. In: Chalamet, C. ; Dettwiler, A. ; Mazzocco, M. & Waterlot, G. Game Over? Reconsidering Eschatology. Berlin : Walter de Gruyter, 2017. DOI : 10.1515/9783110521412-201 Available at: http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:97634 Disclaimer: layout of this document may differ from the published version. 1 / 1 Editors’ Introduction This book gathers most of the papers which werepresented at an international theological conference held at the University of Geneva (October 22–24,2015). The conference was organized by the University of Geneva’sFaculty of Theology, jointlywith the Institut romand de systématique et d’éthique (IRSE),which be- longstothis Faculty. The project of organizingaconference on the topic of eschatology emerged duringadaylongconference on the thought of Jacques Ellul, as several members of Geneva’sTheologicalFaculty began discussing the question of the traditional Christian representations of “the end,” and especiallyits relationship to recent developments within the natural sciences on the end of the universe. The general public hears from the natural sciences that the universe will eventually die. Jour- nalists who cover the naturalsciencesask not whether the universe will die, but how that willhappen.¹ How should Christian theologyconsider the narrative(s) of the natural sciences concerning the final cataclysm towards which the uni- verse as awhole appears to headed ?Needless to day, with its vision of an ulti- mate judgment and redemption, in which God will wipe “every tear from their eyes” (Rev 21:4), in which God willbe“all in all” (1 Cor 15:28), Christian theology makes very different claims about the eschaton,i.e.the “end” of all things.
    [Show full text]
  • Christ and Revelatory Community in Bonhoeffer's Reception of Hegel
    Dogmatik in der Moderne Edited by Christian Danz, Jörg Dierken, Hans-Peter Großhans und Friederike Nüssel 22 David S. Robinson Christ and Revelatory Community in Bonhoeffer’s Reception of Hegel Mohr Siebeck David S. Robinson, born 1980; 2003 BA; 2008 MDiv; 2017 PhD in Systematic Theology and Ethics from The University of Edinburgh; currently Post-Doctoral Fellow in Theo- logy and Science at Regent College and Research Associate at Vancouver School of Theology, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. orcid.org / 0000-0002-8552-4369 ISBN 978-3-16-155963-1 / eISBN 978-3-16-156148-1 DOI 10.1628 / 978-3-16-156148-1 ISSN 1869-3962 / eISSN 2569-3913 (Dogmatik in der Moderne) The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbiblio- graphie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2018 Mohr Siebeck Tübingen. www.mohrsiebeck.com This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that per- mitted by copyright law) without the publisher’s written permission. This applies parti- cularly to reproductions, translations and storage and processing in electronic systems. The book was printed on non-aging paper by Laupp & Göbel in Gomaringen and bound by Buchbinderei Nädele in Nehren. Printed in Germany. For my mother and father Acknowledgements This book is based on the Ph.D. thesis that I completed at the University of Edinburgh in 2017. I begin with thanks to my primary supervisor, David Fer- gusson, for guiding the final revision period and for encouraging engagement with the broader scholarly community, providing professional opportunities to that end.
    [Show full text]
  • THE HERMENEUTICS of the REFORMERS in This Article I Shall Not Deal with the Whole Doctrine of Scripture As We Find It in The
    THE HERMENEUTICS OF THE REFORMERS by KLAAS RUNIA INTRODUCTION In this article I shall not deal with the whole doctrine of scripture as we find it in the works of the Reformers, but with their hermeneutics. Naturally, the two subjects are interrelated, but they are not identical. The doctrine of scripture deals with scripture as the Word of God, its inspiration, authority, sufficiency, infallibility, and/or inerrancy, etc. In short, it concentrates on the essence of scripture and its attributes. Hermeneutics deals with the interpretation of scripture. How is it being read and used in the theology of the Reformers? It is obvious that one cannot deal with the latter question without at the same time touching again and again upon the doctrine of scripture. Yet the emphasis is on the hermeneutical question, and the doctrine of scrip­ ture itself will be dealt with only in a secondary way. But what do we mean by "hermeneutics"? In recent years there has been a considerable shift as to the meaning of the term.1 In the past, hermeneutics was that part of theology that tried to formulate the rules of exegesis. Since the Second World War the term has obtained a new meaning. Now it no longer refers primarily to a set of exegetical rules, but rather to the whole process of interpretation itself, by which con­ temporary believers are brought into an understanding relation to the biblical message. It is interesting to note that this new concept of hermeneutics applies very much to the understanding of the Bible by the Reformers them­ selves.
    [Show full text]
  • Karl Barth, Martin Luther and John Calvin
    http://ngtt.journals.ac.za Hesselink, I. John1 Law and Gospel or Gospel and Law? Karl Barth, Martin Luther and John Calvin ABSTRACT For Calvin the order of the law-gospel relation may be put this way: Law of creation (natural law) – revealed law (the law of Moses) – the gospel – the gracious law (third use) as a norm and guide for believers. The same outline would follow for Luther except that the third or positive use of the law plays a minor role in his thinking. On the surface Barth would seem to have more affinity with Calvin but the differences are significant because of Barth’s rejection of any notion of the antithesis of law and gospel and his subsuming the law in all its functions under God’s grace. INTRODUCTION Karl Adam, a German Roman Catholic theologian, is reported to have said that Karl Barth’s Commentary on Romans “dropped like a bomb on the playground of theologians.”2 It immediately established Karl Barth, then a pastor in a small Swiss village, as a theological force to be reckoned with. It was a striking challenge to the German liberal theological establishment of the first half of the twentieth century from which it never completely recovered. Not long afterwards Barth published a little monograph entitled Evangelium und Gesetz (Gospel and Law) in 1935 in the journal Theologische Existence heute, No. XXXII.3 Barth had planned to give this as a lecture in Barmen that year but was prevented from giving it by the Gestapo. As he was being escorted across the border to Switzerland by the German police, someone else read the lecture in his place.4 This little treatise did not evoke much of a response in either the liberal theological world nor the evangelical world in Britain or the United States, but it was regarded as a frontal attack on a key Lutheran doctrine by the Lutheran establishment.
    [Show full text]
  • University Microfilms 300 North Z U B Road Ann Arbor
    INFORMATION TO USERS This dissertation was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a large round black mark, it is an indication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during exposure and thus cause a blurred image. You will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., was part of the material being photographed the photographer followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at the upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to continue photoing from left to right in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary, sectioning is continued again — beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete. 4. The majority of users indicate that the textual content is of greatest value, however, a somewhat higher quality reproduction could be made from "photographs" if essential to the understanding of the dissertation.
    [Show full text]
  • Stages in the Evolution of Regimes for the Generation, Development and Diffusion of Useful and Reliable Knowledge in the West
    Working Papers No. 176/13 Historical Foundations for a Global Perspective on the Emergence of a Western European Regime for the Discovery, Development and Diffusion of Useful and Reliable Knowledge Patrick O’Brien © Patrick O’Brien March 2013 1 Department of Economic History London School of Economics Houghton Street London, WC2A 2AE Tel: +44 (0) 20 7955 7860 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7955 7730 2 Historical Foundations for a Global Perspective on the Emergence of a Western European Regime for the Discovery, Development and Diffusion of Useful and Reliable Knowledge* Patrick O’Brien ABSTRACT At a ‘conjuncture’ in pre-modern global history, labeled by previous generations of historians as the ‘Scientific Revolution’, the societies and states of western Europe established and promoted a regime of interconnected institutions for the accumulation of useful and reliable knowledge. This placed their economies on trajectories that led to divergent prospects for long-term technological change and material progress. Although the accumulation of such knowledge takes place over millennia of time, and in contexts that are global, critical interludes or conjunctures in a “dialogue of civilizations” have remained geographically localized, and indigenous in nature. Determining the locations, origins and forms of this particular conjuncture is often dismissed as an exercise in Eurocentric history. Modern scholarship has also preferred to emphasize the roles played by craftsmen in its progress and diffusion - ignoring metaphysical and religious foundations of knowledge about the natural world. My survey aims to restore traditional perceptions that the West passed through a transformation in its hegemonic beliefs about prospects for the comprehension and manipulation of that world in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Editor's Introduction to the English Edition
    EDINTRO:EDINTRO.QXD 2/17/2009 10:29 AM Page 1 W AYNE W HITSON F LOYD, JR . EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH EDITION Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s name was introduced to the English-speaking world through the appreciative reception that was given to certain of his writings in the generation following the second world war. Titles such as The Cost of Discipleship, Life Together, Ethics, and Letters and Papers from Prison summoned an image of a courageous pastor and thoughtful the- ologian who rose above the confusion and inaction of his age not only to speak prophetic words of clarity but also to take costly actions of resis- tance against the horrors of National Socialism. His provocative words became a staple among those themselves searching for an adequate response to a ‘world come of age’ in the 1950s and 1960s. He evoked a fearless openness to the challenges of modernity, a way to be Christian without succumbing to mere religiosity, a spiritual path that led into the midst of this world, evoking a compassionate and redemptive embrace of both life’s gifts and its deep wounds and needs. Far less well known and read, however, were the works that come from the first half of Bonhoeffer’s adult life — the writings from the time of his academic preparation for an anticipated professional life as a univer- sity professor, as well as those that were the first fruits of his academic vocation. To be ignorant, however, of his first dissertation Sanctorum Communio,[1] or the university lectures later published as Creation and [1.] Sanctorum Communio was Bonhoeffer’s doctoral dissertation, the first of two theses that were required of a candidate wishing to receive a doctorate and to teach in a German university.
    [Show full text]