Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes

In honor and memory of the life of Timothy Keller, I publish some of my favorite quotes from his prolific writings (see Tim Keller, Author). Since the last post focused on Dietrich Bonhoeffer (A New Year’s Hymn) and he was referenced in the advent post, Mary’s Poem, I thought it fitting to create a list of some well-known and valuable quotes from his writings.

As was the case with the Tim Keller post, this exercise is intended for my own edification as much as for those reading this. So here they are, along with their sources. Enjoy!

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“Jesus calls us not to a new religion but to life.”  (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Bethge)

“The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them.”  (Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community)

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession… Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”  (The Cost of Discipleship)

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”  (Though this is often attributed to Bonhoeffer, the exact source is disputed as it doesn’t appear in any of his writings)

“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.”  (Letters and Papers from Prison)

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.”  (Life Together)

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”  (The Cost of Discipleship)

“Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others, we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”  (The Cost of Discipleship)

“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others.”  (Letters and Papers from Prison)

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”  (Life Together)

“The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.” (Ethics)

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”  (Letters and Papers from Prison)

“Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.” (The Cost of Discipleship)

“God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill His promises, leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.”  (God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas)

“Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. Yet all the time they are the very source of anxiety.”  (The Cost of Discipleship)

“I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me.”  (Life Together)

“Nothing that we despise in the other man is entirely absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or don’t do, and more in light of what they suffer.”  (Letters and Papers from Prison)

“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”  (Letters and Papers from Prison)

“The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.”  (The Cost of Discipleship)

“Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.”  (Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, Metaxas)