What would Bonhoeffer do? Anti-Nazi pastor's legacy claimed, debated across political spectrum

Shortly before he was hanged by the Nazis in 1945 at age 39, Dietrich Bonhoeffer reportedly told a fellow prisoner: “This is the end — for me the beginning of life.”

It was – more than he knew.

Even as the German theologian — a Lutheran — was anticipating eternal life in heaven, his death marked the beginning of his ever-growing reputation as a martyr and hero to the cause of anti-Nazi resistance.

Churches worldwide commemorate him in statues and stained glass. Readers have explored him in books about and by him, particularly his blunt calls to sacrificial discipleship. “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die,” he famously wrote.

He’s been widely quoted – and misquoted. People across the ideological spectrum have claimed Bonhoeffer would support their side on issues ranging from the Vietnam War to post-9/11 militarism to same-sex marriage to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

And the battle for Bonhoeffer is fiercer now than ever, nearly 80 years after his death.

“The desire to harness Bonhoeffer’s moral capital for partisan ends has intensified as knowledge of his life and witness has expanded, and as American society has grown more polarized,” scholar Stephen Haynes wrote in the book, “The Battle for Bonhoeffer.”

Numerous Bonhoeffer scholars and relatives signed statements in recent months decrying the use of his words and example in causes they say would have appalled him – such as modern-day religious nationalism and xenophobia in the United States and Europe.

Meanwhile, his story came to the big screen in late 2024 in a new biopic, “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.” It's slated to begin streaming in late January. Like Bonhoeffer himself, the movie and its provocative marketing have been strongly debated.

Even the film’s creators and distributors aren’t seeing eye to eye over the latter’s depiction of Bonhoeffer as an apparent gun-wielding assassin in promotional materials -- something scholars and family members say is bad history.

It is “completely outrageous,” said Ruggero Schleicher-Tappeser of Berlin, a great-nephew of Bonhoeffer. “It conveys a completely wrong image of the person of Bonhoeffer and his context.”

Born in 1906 in Breslau, Germany, Bonhoeffer was devout from an early age and felt drawn to the ministry. He completed his doctoral dissertation at 21 and continued his seminary studies in New York. There he worshipped at in Harlem, where he was shaped by the deep faith and social conscience of the Black church tradition.

As the Nazis took over Germany and hurtled it toward war and genocide, Bonhoeffer opposed their coopting of the Protestant churches – exemplified in the movie by a bishop who praises Adolf Hitler as a “true savior” sent by God to restore Germany.

During World War II, Bonhoeffer and other family members were part of a secret anti-Hitler conspiracy within the German intelligence service. Bonhoeffer carried messages to foreign contacts and helped arrange the passage of 14 Jews to safety in Switzerland.

Bonhoeffer knew of and supported an ultimately unsuccessful plan to assassinate Hitler. Contrary to the impression given by the “Bonhoeffer” movie poster, he wasn’t actively involved in its operations. However, the Nazis eventually uncovered his resistance work and executed him after two years’ imprisonment.

One of Bonhoeffer’s brothers was also executed. So were two brothers-in-law, including Schleicher-Tappeser’s grandfather.

Schleicher-Tappeser said his grandmother taught him values that the family brought to their resistance work: “To be to behave in an honest way. To seek for truth.”

He said that family legacy prompted more than 80 descendants of Bonhoeffer’s siblings to make a public statement in October against right-wing movements in the U.S. and Europe.

“Never would he have seen himself associated with far-right, violent movements such as Christian ��ϲʹ��ists and others who are trying to appropriate him today,” the statement said. “He would have strongly and loudly condemned these attitudes.”

Leaders of the International Bonhoeffer Society and other scholars issued a similar statement in October. They decried the founding document of Project 2025 for quoting Bonhoeffer to support their call for sharply moving U.S. policies to the right. Some key contributors to Project 2025 are of President-elect Donald Trump.

The Project 2025 document applied Bonhoeffer’s concept of “cheap grace” to progressives it claimed supported causes that didn’t cost them personally. The scholars retorted that using Bonhoeffer to “discredit protection of refugees and care for the environment … is a cheap trick.”

Some of the controversy centers on author and radio host Eric Metaxas, whose best-selling 2010 biography, “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy,” boosted awareness of Bonhoeffer particularly in evangelical circles. Metaxas sought in part to show Bonhoeffer’s motivations in a deep Christian faith, offsetting claims that he had become liberal or secular.

“A lot of people, their lives are changed by the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and that’s why I wanted to write the book,” he said in an interview.

Metaxas, a Trump supporter who supported that President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory was rigged, has helped popularize the phrase “Bonhoeffer moment” – a moral crisis forcing Christians to stand against their government.

He and other evangelicals have applied the phrase to everything from opposing the Supreme Court’s 2015 legalization of same-sex marriage to recent controversies. In a 2024 book, “Religionless Christianity,” Metaxas contended that just as German Christians shouldn’t have trusted in Hitler’s promised benevolence, American Christians should have questioned official assurances about COVID-19 vaccines and the 2020 election. On social media, he has .

While Metaxas’ Bonhoeffer biography received some positive reviews, other scholars faulted it as lacking context and casting the German theologian in the mold of an American evangelical. Scholars, including evangelicals, have written recent essays saying Bonhoeffer’s views were too complex for any one Christian faction to claim him.

The Bonhoeffer scholars’ petition contends Metaxas has manipulated the theologian’s story “to support Christian ��ϲʹ��ism.”

In broadcasts, Metaxas claimed the statement reflected the scholars’ “bitter jealousy” over the success of his book and said the Bonhoeffer family statement was signed by “pro-Hamas lunatics” who are “Jew-hating.”

Schleicher-Tappeser called the comments “outrageous” and said the family was considering legal options.

Metaxas told the AP he “spoke sloppily” about the family and that he subsequently apologized.

“We ought to all agree how wonderful it is that somebody made a film on Bonhoeffer,” Metaxas said. “Somebody who’s very politically liberal, I guarantee you they’ll love it.”

Some reviews have faulted the movie’s presentation of Bonhoeffer as a swashbuckling action hero, rather than the more conflicted theologian with pacifist leanings.

Bonhoeffer wrote that the church must not only aid victims of oppression but sometimes must grab the wheel of the state to stop it. He never morally justified the assassination attempt on Hitler, but he saw no alternative, scholars said.

Several key actors in the movie, including Bonhoeffer portrayer Jonas Dassler, published their own statement opposing “far-right” and anti-immigrant appropriations of him.

“The story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer teaches us that it is necessary to speak up against any authoritarian, violent attempt to damage democracy and human rights,” they wrote.

The “Bonhoeffer” movie has largely completed its weeks-long theatrical run in the U.S. but is scheduled for streaming in late January and international distribution.

It was acquired for distribution by Angel Studios.

Todd Komarnicki, who wrote, directed and produced the movie, said he opposed both the use of the word “Assassin” in the subtitle and the movie poster depicting Bonhoeffer with a gun.

“I was against both of those, vocally,” said Komarnicki. “You don’t get final say in marketing with any studio.”

He and Metaxas both said the latter had no role in the making of the film. Komarnicki said the script was based on his own readings of Bonhoeffer’s writings and story.

“If you watch the movie without the agenda, it’s very clear what the movie is saying, that nationalism is not Christian,” Komarnicki said. “What Christians are supposed to do is look after widows and orphans, serve the poor. We’re not seeing a lot of that on the far right.”

“I also think it’s a love story between Dietrich Bonhoeffer with God,” he said.

The Battle for Bonhoeffer even took place within Bonhoeffer himself, who in his last years questioned whether he lived up to his reputation among fellow prisoners as confident and resolute.

“Am I really what others tell me?” he wrote in a poem. “Or am I only what I myself know of me?”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.