BONHOEFFER’S SEMINARY VISION

A Case for Costly Discipleship and Life Together

PAUL R. HOUSE

wheaton, illinois

Bonhoeffer’s Seminary Vision: A Case for Costly Discipleship and Life Together

Copyright © 2015 by Paul R. House

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Quotations of The Cost of Discipleship are reprinted with the permission of Scribner Publishing Group, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, translated from the German by R. H. Fuller, with revisions by Irmgard Booth. Copyright © 1959 by SCM Press Ltd. All rights reserved.

Numerous brief quotations from Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, translated by Daniel W. Bloesch and James H. Burtness. Copyright © 1996 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Material from Theological Education at Finkenwalde: 1935–1937: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 14, copyright © 2013 Fortress Press, admin. Augsburg Fortress. Reproduced by permission.

Material from Theological Education Underground: 1937–1940: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 15, copyright © 2011 Fortress Press, admin. Augsburg Fortress. Reproduced by permission.

Cover design: Dual Identity, inc.

Cover image: © iStock

First printing 2015

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-4544-3

ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-4547-4

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-4545-0

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-4546-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

House, Paul R., 1958–

Bonhoeffer’s seminary vision: a case for costly discipleship and life together / Paul R. House.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 978-1-4335-4544-3 (tp)

1. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 1906–1945. 2. Clergy—Training of. 3. Theology—Study and teaching. 4. Pastoral theology. I. Title.

BX4827.B57H685 2015

230.071'1—dc23

2014030581

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

To Heather

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

1 Bonhoeffer’s Path to Seminary Ministry

2 Bonhoeffer and His Seminaries

3 Ministers for the Visible Body of Christ: The Seminary and The Cost of Discipleship

4 A Visible Community of the Body of Christ: The Seminary and Life Together

5 Visible Faithful Witnesses: The Seminary and Perseverance

6 Life Together Today: Some Possibilities for Incarnational Seminaries

General Index

Scripture Index

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About Bonhoeffer’s Seminary Vision: A Case for Costly Discipleship and Life Together

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is best known for his role in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and his subsequent execution at the hands of the Nazis. However, most of us are less familiar with his tireless work educating seminary students for a life of pastoral ministry—a role that occupied him for most of his adult life.

Anchored in a variety of influential lectures, personal letters, and major works such as The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together, this book attempts to recover a largely unexamined part of Bonhoeffer’s life, exploring his philosophy and practice of theological education in his original context. It then builds on this foundation to address the drift toward increasingly impersonal educational models in our own day, affirming the value of personal, face-to-face seminary education for the health of pastors and churches.

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