Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The brave theologian who paid the ultimate price for opposing Hitler
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 in Breslau, Germany (now Poland). The Bonhoeffers were an aristocratic and highly educated family in Berlin, the father, Dr Karl Bonhoeffer, being an eminent neurologist and professor of psychiatry at the University of Berlin. The mother, Paula, was an accomplished educator who had a profound influence on her children, with all the children being encouraged to explore science, literature, and the fine arts.
Against the wishes of his family, at the age of 14, Dietrich decided to pursue theology rather than law or science. He studied Hebrew at school and attended many evangelical meetings, moved by the many sufferings that resulted from warfare, including famine and orphaned children.
After school, having begun his studies at Tubingen, Dietrich graduated with distinction aged 21 from the Humboldt University of Berlin with a Doctorate in Theology.
In 1930, Bonhoeffer moved to America with the intent of attaining a Sloane Fellowship at New York City’s Union Theological Seminary. Although unimpressed with the flippant attitude of American theology students towards their studies, he formed a lifelong love for the African-American church, teaching Sunday school in the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. It was this influence that was one of the factors that led...
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