Bonhoeffer's Non‐Commitment to Nonviolence
A Response to Stanley Hauerwas
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14760448 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael P Dejonge (0000-0001-5607-8016, University of South Florida, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 378-394 |
| Publication date | 2016-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Religious Ethics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0384-9694 • E-ISSN: 1467-9795 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/jore.12146 |
| OpenAlex | W2406380632 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 3 |
Stanley Hauerwas's claim that Bonhoeffer had a “commitment to nonviolence” runs aground on Bonhoeffer's own statements about peace, war, violence, and nonviolence. The fact that Hauerwas and others have asserted Bonhoeffer's commitment to nonviolence despite abundant evidence to the contrary reveals a blind spot that develops from reading Bonhoeffer's thinking in general and his statements about peace in particular as if they were part of an Anabaptist theological framework rather than his own Lutheran one. This essay shows that Bonhoeffer's understanding of peace as “concrete commandment” and “order of preservation” relies on Lutheran concepts and is articulated with explicit contrast to an Anabaptist account of peace. The interpretation developed here can account for the range of statements Bonhoeffer makes about peace, war, violence, and nonviolence, many of which must be misconstrued or ignored to claim his “commitment to nonviolence.”
Economics · Environmental ethics · Law and economics · Political science · Theology · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law · Philosophy · Public Administration · Theology and Philosophy of Evil · War, Ethics, and Justification
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |