Theological Issues
WAR & PEACE
Trinity International University
© John Stevenson, 2009
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
1906 - 1945
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
1906 - 1945
• Bonhoeffer eventually
decides to join a plot to
assassinate Hitler. What
theological positions that he
held served previously to
keep him from doing this?
• What made him finally decide
to do it?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
1906 - 1945
• Would you have responded to
the Nazi regime in the same
way that Bonhoeffer did?
• What would have caused
other Lutheran pastors to
remain subservient to the
German state?
Paul Hill
• Murdered a
physician
outside an
abortion clinic
in 1993.
• Some of his supporters cited Bonheoffer
as justification for his actions.
© 1989
What impressed us about
Falwell’s statement was that it
began to recognize that Christian
ethics are church dependent… the
church legislatively demanding the
state to do what it cannot do even
among its own members through
persuasion and conversion alone…
(Pg 71).
© 1989
Christian ethics, like any ethics,
are “tradition dependent.” That is,
they make sense, not because the
principles they espouse make sense
in the abstract, as perfectly rational
behavior, which ought to sound
reasonable
to
any
intelligent
person…
© 1989
• What do the authors mean when
they say that “ethics are churchdependent” and that “Christian
ethics. . .are tradition
dependent”? (p. 71).
• Do you agree?
© 1989
• Can you give a “Christian ethic”
that appears to be universally
rational rather than peculiar to the
Christian community/Scripture?
(e.g.. “Love your neighbor as
yourself, Do not murder”)
• How do these authors interpret
and apply the Sermon on the
Mount?
© 1989
The Christian ethical question is
not the conventional Enlightenment
question, “How in the world can
ordinary people like us live a heroic
life like that?” The question is, “What
sort of community would be required
to support an ethic of nonviolence,
marital fidelity, forgiveness, and hope
such as one sketched by Jesus in the
Sermon on the Mount?” (p. 80)
© 1989
• According to the authors, What
does it mean to be the church?
• Why should one live life in the
church? (see p. 77).
• The authors say, “There is no way
to remove the eschatology of
Christian ethics.” What do they
mean by this?
• How is eschatology related to
ethics and to Christian
discipleship?
© 1989
• How is one’s view of the Kingdom
of God (as now but not yet)
related to one’s interpretation of
the Sermon on the Mount and to
Christian ethics?
• How does their view of the
Kingdom of God affect their view
of War and Peace? (see pages
88-89)
Matthew 6:19-21
Do not store up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moth and
rust destroy, and where thieves break
in and steal. 20 But store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys,
and where thieves do not break in or
steal; 21 for where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.
What does this passage say
about Christians and
possessions?
Matthew 6:22-23
The eye is the lamp of the body;
so then if your eye is clear, your
whole body will be full of light. 23 But
if your eye is bad, your whole body
will be full of darkness. If then the
light that is in you is darkness, how
great is the darkness!
Figure of
Speech in
Proverbs
22:9
He who is generous (literally, “he who
has a good eye”) will be blessed,
For he gives some of his food to the
poor.
Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters;
for either he will hate the one and
love the other, or he will be devoted
to one and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and wealth.
Matthew 7:1-2
Do not judge so that you will not
be judged. 2 For in the way you
judge, you will be judged; and by
your standard of measure, it will be
measured to you.
Matthew 7:3-5
Why do you look at the speck
that is in your brother’s eye, but do
not notice the log that is in your own
eye? 4 Or how can you say to your
brother, “Let me take the speck out of
your eye,” and behold, the log is in
your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first
take the log out of your own eye, and
then you will see clearly to take the
speck out of your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:6
Do not give what is holy to
dogs, and do not throw your pearls
before swine, or they will trample
them under their feet, and turn and
tear you to pieces.
What are to be some of the
characteristics in living kingdom
truths for today?