Taking the antidote: Bonhoeffer’s prescription of Kierkegaard and its theological and political implications for the church

Abstract

In the Second World War’s complex political and theological climate, Dietrich Bonhoeffer prescribes to his fiancée the antidote of Kierkegaard in response to her reading of Paul Schütz’s Das Evangelium. In context, Bonhoeffer opposes forms of gospel deliberation that lead to confusion between the church and the world at the expense of the mediation of Christ. To unpack this view, this article considers Schütz’s work and its emphasis upon the victory infused in creation through Christ’s work. Following this, it looks to Kierkegaard’s radically counter vision of the need to dwell alone with the crucified Christ in Practice in Christianity. Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship more effectively encapsulates how the crucified Christ mediates the church community and the world back to the individual, affirming and elaborating on Kierkegaard’s work. Bonhoeffer’s understanding of Kierkegaard as an ‘antidote’ is then applied to a Kierkegaardian critique of ‘Trumpism’ by Curtis Thompson. If a believer cannot hold political opinions before the crucified Christ, before entering public political discourse, they must renounce their political posture.