Dissertation

SOURCE: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Indexes and Supplementary Materials, ed. Victoria J. Barnett et al., vol. 17, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2014), 154–158. Sermons and Meditations Address on Jeremiah 27–28—(DBWE vol. )9 Address on John 19—9 Address on Luke 12:35ff.—9 Address on Matthew 21:28–31—9 Address on the Decalogue—9 Address on the First Commandment—9 Baptismal Homily on Joshua 24:15—13 Baptism Sermon on 1 John 4:16—11 Baptism Sermon on Ephesians 5:14—11 Bible Reading and Prayer on 1 Corinthians 4:20—13 Biblical Reflection: Morning—14 Catechesis in the Second Theological Examination on the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer—10 Catechetical Examination on Matthew 8:5–13—9 Catechetical Outline concerning the Second Article of Faith—9 Children’s Address on Psalm 24:7–9 Communion Homily on 1 Corinthians 15:55—15 Confession Homily on Micah 4:9—15 Confirmation—15 Confirmation Question Confirmation Sermon on Mark 9:24 Confirmation Verses Devotional Aids for the Moravian Daily Texts—16 Daily Text Meditation for June 7 and 8, 1944 Daily Text Meditation for Pentecost 1944 Devotions on John 8:31–32—11 Devotions on Luke 4:3–4—11 Devotions on Luke 4:5–8—11 Draft for a Catechism: As You Believe, So You Receive—11 Draft for a Liturgy, Remembrance Sunday—10 Draft for a Liturgy, Reminiscere (Memorial Day)—10 Opening Liturgy Prayer Draft for Worship Service on 2 Corinthians 2:14; 6:10; 6:1—15 Exegesis and Catechetical Lesson on Luke 9:57–62—9 Exegesis and Sermon on James 1:21–25—9 Exposition on Romans 9–11 (Student Notes)—14 Exposition on the First Table of the Ten Words of God—16 Fragment of a Wedding Sermon—13 Funeral Address on Luke 2:29–30—13 Funeral Liturgy and Homily on Proverbs 23:26 for Hans-Friedrich von Kleist-Retzow—16 Guide to Scriptural Meditation—14 Homily for the Children’s Service—10 Homily on Daniel 10:1, 8, 16–19—12 Liturgy for a Seminar Worship Service—12 Liturgy Fragment for Christmas—15 Marriage Sermon on Ruth 1:16–17—13 Meditation and Catechetical Lesson on “Honor”—9 Meditation and Sermon on Luke 9:51–56 for the Theological Examination—9 Meditation on Luke 9:57–62—13 Meditation on Psalm 119—15 Bonhoeffer’s Meditation (Fragment) Two Structural Outlines of Psalm 119 Notes for a Young Man—10 Outline for a Homily for Personal Confession on Proverbs 28:13–14 Outline on Proverbs 3:27–33—14 Recommended Devotions on Jeremiah 16:21 and Ephesians 1:22–23—16 Sermon for Evening Worship Service on 2 Corinthians 12:9—13 Sermon for Evening Worship Service on Proverbs 16:9–13 Sermon for the Lector on Matthew 2:13–23—15 Sermon for the Second Theological Examination on 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18—10 Sermon (Fragment) on Deuteronomy 32:48–52—10 Sermon (Fragment) on Luke 12:49—10 Sermon (Fragment) on Matthew 7:1—10 Sermon (Fragment) on Song of Solomon 8:6b—10 Sermon Meditation on Isaiah 9:6–7—16 Sermon Meditation on Revelation 2:1–7—14 Sermon Meditations—15 Sermon Meditation on John 3:16–21 for the Second Day of Pentecost Sermon Meditation on John 10:11–16 for Misericordias Domini Sunday Sermon Meditation on John 14:23–31 for the First Day of Pentecost Sermon Meditations on John 20:19–31 for Quasimodogeniti Sunday Sermon on 1 Corinthians 2:7–10—13 Sermon on 1 Corinthians 12:27, 26—10 Sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:1–3—13 Sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:4–7—13 Sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:8–12—13 Sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:13—13 Sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:17—10 Pulpit Notes Sermon Sermon on 1 John 2:17—10 Sermon on 1 John 4:16—10, 11 Sermon on 1 Peter 1:7b–9—12 Sermon on 2 Chronicles 20:12—11 Sermon on 2 Corinthians 5:10—13 Sermon on 2 Corinthians 5:20—13 Sermon on 2 Corinthians 12:9—10 Sermon on Colossians 3:1–4—11 Sermon on Genesis 32:25–32; 33:10—11 Sermon on Exodus 32:1–8, 15–16, 18–20, 30–35—12 Sermon on Jeremiah 20:7—13 Sermon on John 8:32—11 Sermon on Judges 6:15–16; 7:2; 8:23—12 Sermon on Luke 1:39–56—14 Sermon on Luke 1:46–55 Sermon on Luke 12:35–40—11 Sermon on Luke 13:1–5—13 Sermon on Luke 16:19–31—11 Sermon on Luke 17:7–10—9 Sermon on Luke 17:33—10 Sermon on Luke 21:28—13 Sermon on Mark 9:23–24—13 Sermon on Matthew 5:8—10 Sermon on Matthew 8:23–27—12 Sermon on Matthew 11:28–30—13 Sermon on Matthew 16:13–18—12 Sermon on Matthew 18:21–35—14 Sermon on Matthew 24:6–14—11 Sermon on Matthew 26:45b–50—14 Sermon on Matthew 28:20—10 Sermon on Philippians 4:7—10 Sermon on Psalm 42—14 Sermon on Psalm 58—14 Sermon on Psalm 62:2—10 Sermon on Psalm 63:3—11 Sermon on Psalm 90—14 Sermon on Psalm 98:1—13 Sermon on Psalm 127:1—9 Sermon on Revelation 2:4–5, 7—12 Sermon on Revelation 3:20—10 Sermon on Revelation 14:6–13—14 Sermon on Romans 5:1–5—15 Sermon on Romans 11:6—10 Sermon on Romans 12:11c—10 Sermon on Romans 12:17–21—15 Sermon on Wisdom 3:3—13 Sermon on Zechariah 3:1–5—14 Supplements to the Monthly Letters from the Confessing Church Council of Brethren in Pomerania to Its Pastors—15 Meditation on Christmas Meditation on Epiphany Theological Reflection on the Lord’s Supper Wedding Sermon from the Prison Cell—8 Wedding Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18—14 Wedding Sermon on John 13:34—14

(Here’s a PDF of this paper: STEELE_The Tree of Religion Barth and Bonhoeffer on the Tree of Knowledge.) Introduction The precise meaning of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (=TK) has long vexed interpreters of Genesis 2:4–3:24.[1] While the “tree of life” (=TL) is mentioned and alluded to throughout the Bible, the TK is explicitly mentioned by its full name just twice (Gen. 2:9, 17).[2] Nevertheless, because of the significant role that the TK plays in the narrative, both Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth highlight the TK in their theological interpretations of Genesis 1–3....

John Webster’s essay, “Reading the Bible: The Example of Barth and Bonhoeffer” (pages 87–110 in Word and Church: Essays in Christian Dogmatics [Edinburgh; New York: T&T Clark, 2001]) is, in large part, the inspiration for my doctoral dissertation. I’d like to share the three reflections/lessons Webster draws from the biblical work of Barth and Bonhoeffer. Wrapping up his essay, Webster claims that Neither Bonhoeffer nor Barth were wissenschaftlich theologians; both were practical or pastoral theologians of the church of Jesus Christ....

Came across this Barth quote in Church Dogmatics II/2 this morning. I really like it, because it’s a good reminder that Barth valued the Bible. His distinction between the Bible as witness to the Word of God and Jesus Christ as the Word of God did not cause him to abandon the Scriptural witness. It is as well to remind ourselves, at the conclusion of this analysis, that the question: What ought we to do?...

Note that, as of 2019-01-26, 54 volumes of the Gesamtausgabe have been published. Unfortunately, only the first 45 of these are available in the Digital Karl Barth Library. *I’ve marked volumes unavailable in the DKBL with an asterisk. According to the publisher, TVZ: Seit 1971 sind im Theologischen Verlag Zürich mehr als 50 Bände der Karl Barth-Gesamtausgabe erschienen. In ihr werden Barths Texte kritisch ediert und so präsentiert, dass sie für die wissenschaftliche Beschäftigung, aber auch für einen grösseren Interessentenkreis lesbar und zugänglich werden....

To make this list, I’ve used the data available in the Digital Karl Barth Library. I’ve just taken the tables of contents in the sermon volumes of Barth’s collected works and put them all in one place. The only way to display the dates correctly in Markdown is to write these up as code blocks, as I’ve done below. Predigten 1913 (GA I.8) 1. und 5. Januar (Neujahr): Prediger 1,9 12....

In The Epistle to the Romans, Barth writes the following concerning the false image of God at the heart of religion: What men on this side resurrection name ‘God’ is most characteristically not God. Their ‘God’ does not redeem his creation, but allows free course to the unrighteousness of men; does not declare himself to be God, but is the complete affirmation of the course of the world and of men as it is....

I argue that, although Barth’s interpretation of the Genesis passages changed between The Epistle to the Romans and the Church Dogmatics, his mature readings of Genesis 2–3 still support his overall theological critique of religion as idolatry, the self-justifying positing of false gods. Specifically, in Romans (240–57, esp. 246–51), Barth interpreted “the knowledge of good and evil” as the divine secret that humans are merely humans. The prohibition of eating from the tree of knowledge thereby concealed the creator/creature distinction and was meant to enable a direct relationship between God and humans....

(Note: Read more about my work on Barth, Bonhoeffer, and the Bible here.) I’m really looking forward to reading these two Barth (and Bonhoeffer) books coming out from Baker in 2019: Freedom under the Word: Karl Barth’s Theological Exegesis. Edited by Ben Rhodes and Martin Westerholm. Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Theologians for a Post-Christian World. By Wolf Krötke. Translated by John P. Burgess. Freedom under the Word (May 2019) According to Baker:...

Based upon my own reading of Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison [DBWE 8], here is my attempt at a summary list of the facets/aspects of Bonhoeffer’s view of “religion” in prison. Religion emphasizes inwardness. [DBWE 8:362, 364, 455–57] Religion emphasizes conscience. [DBWE 8:362] Religion is a temporary phenomenon. [DBWE 8:362, 364] Religion is manipulative and exploitative. [DBWE 8:363, 366, 426–27, 450, 455–57] Religion ignores human strength/knowledge/autonomy and instead focuses on human weakness, ignorance, and boundaries/limits/limitations....