Ahead of next month’s release of the movie “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin,” 86 of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s descendants are urging people not to “distort and misuse” the theologian’s life or work. In an Oct. 18 statement, dozens of Bonhoeffer’s relatives wrote, “We are horrified to see how the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is increasingly being distorted and misused by right-wing extremists, xenophobes, and religious agitators.”
They described the German theologian as “a peace-loving, freedom-loving humanitarian” who “never would…have seen himself associated with far-right, violent movements such as Christian Nationalists and others who are trying to appropriate him today.”
Bonhoeffer, who opposed the Nazis during World War II, was hanged in April 1945 at age 39. His influential books include “The Cost of Discipleship” and “Life Together.”
In their statement, Bonhoeffer descendants pinpoint conservative author Eric Metaxas as “a key figure in this abuse.” Metaxas, who wrote an award-winning biography of Bonhoeffer, is a vocal supporter of conservative politics and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
According to the relatives, Metaxas “ignored the historical context and misrepresented Bonhoeffer as a fundamentalist Evangelical” in the biography. They also decry his previous comparison of President Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler, plus social media posts that reference Bonhoeffer while showing a gun on a Bible. Continue reading…
