New Bonhoeffer Online Class Happening Now - Register Here!
RISE OF BONHOEFFER: Faith, Resistance, and Theology in Action
Are you ready to embark on an inspiring and informative journey alongside Dietrich Bonhoeffer - one of the most courageous people in modern history?
We live in a time of crisis upon crisis, and yet the church is silent. The need, or better put, the demand for a new trajectory of faith is clear. Where do we begin? Is there a starting point for considering faith beyond Christendom?
Diving Deep Into Bonhoeffer's Life
In this engaging class, we'll dive deep into the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who dared to stand against the Nazi regime. From his early days as a passionate scholar to his evolution into a bold leader of the Confessing Church, we'll trace Bonhoeffer's path as he wrestled with the moral and ethical challenges of his time. You'll discover how his theological insights, such as the concept of costly grace, shaped his resistance to Hitler and inspired a generation of believers to act with courage and conviction.
We'll explore Bonhoeffer's most influential works, including his poignant letters from prison and his ethical reflections that continue to challenge and inspire today. Through vivid discussions and thought-provoking readings, you'll gain a deeper understanding of how Bonhoeffer's legacy speaks powerfully to our own era's struggle for faith, justice, and resistance.
ASYNCHRONOUS CLASS: You can participate fully without being present at any specific time. Replays are available on the Class Resource Page.
COST: A course like this is typically offered for $250 or more, but we invite you to contribute whatever you can (including $0) to help make this possible for everyone!
Our audio docuseries will guide you through Bonhoeffer's life, giving the details needed to read his texts in a historical context.
Extended interviews with many of the prolific living Bonhoeffer scholars will deepen your understanding of his life.
Our hosts Dr. Jeffrey Pugh and Dr. Tripp Fuller will unpack the selected readings and Bonhoeffer scholarship.
Can't make one of the livestreams? All replays will be available on the Class Resource Page, and you can go back to listen anytime during the class.
Join the private Facebook group to connect with other participants and access all lectures and livetream replays.
Dr. Jeffrey Pugh and Dr. Tripp Fuller will answer questions from class members during the livestreams.
Join us as we journey through the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, exploring the intersections of faith, resistance, and the quest for justice in a time of unparalleled darkness.
8 CHAPTERS OF OUR CLASS
Who Is Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer remains one of the 20th century's greatest theologians and witnesses to radical faith. He was a German pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential, and his book The Cost of Discipleship has been described as a modern classic.
Apart from his theological writings, Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance to Nazi dictatorship, including vocal opposition to Hitler's euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel prison and later Flossenbürg concentration camp. After being accused of being associated with the July 20th plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, he was quickly tried and then hanged on April 9, 1945 as the Nazi regime was collapsing, 21 days before Adolf Hitler committed suicide.
ASYNCHRONOUS CLASS: You can participate fully without being present at any specific time. Replays are available on the Class Resource Page.
COST: A course like this is typically offered for $250 or more, but we invite you to contribute whatever you can (including $0) to help make this possible for everyone!
Meet Our Hosts
Luther Theological Seminary, Hombrewed Christianity, Theology Class
Tripp recently moved back to North Carolina and started as Visiting Professor of Theology at Luther Theological Seminary after three years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Theology & Science at the University of Edinburgh. He recently released Divine Self-Investment: a Constructive Open and Relational Christology, the first book in the Studies in Open and Relational Theology series. For over 15 years Tripp has been doing the Homebrewed Christianity podcast (think on-demand internet radio) where he interviews different scholars about their work so you can get nerdy in traffic, on the treadmill, or doing the dishes. Last year it had over 4 million downloads. It also inspired a book series with Fortress Press called the Homebrewed Christianity Guides to... topics like God, Jesus, Spirit, Church History, etc. Tripp is a very committed and (some of his friends think overly) engaged Lakers fan and takes Star Wars and Lord of the Rings very seriously.
Elon University
Dr. Jeffrey C. Pugh recently retired as Maude Sharpe Powell Professor of Religious Studies and Distinguished University Professor from Elon University in North Carolina. The author of six books ranging from Barth, religion and science, and the apocalyptic imagination to Bonhoeffer, Pugh’s work has focused on Christian complicity in the Holocaust and the lessons that can be applied to instruct future generations. His latest work, a chapter on his reflections while he was participating in the clergy resistance at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, is found in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Resistance. He and his wife Jan, a retired United Methodist minister, make their home in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Our Bonhoeffer Experts
Victoria J. Barnett served from 2004-2014 as one of the general editors of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, the English translation series of Bonhoeffer's complete works published by Fortress Press. She has lectured and written extensively about the Holocaust, particularly about the role of the German churches. Her published works include Bystanders: Conscience and Complicity during the Holocaust (1999) and For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest against Hitler (1992). Since 2004 she has directed the Programs on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She is a graduate of Indiana University, Union Theological Seminary, New York, and George Mason University.
Michael DeJonge is Professor and Chair of the Religious Studies department, where he teaches about the history of Christian thought, theories and methods in religious studies, and religion in modern society. He holds the endowed Chair named in memory of James F. Strange, who was a respected colleague and beloved teacher in the department for forty years. He’s been teaching at USF since earning a Ph.D. in Religion from Emory University in 2009. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, a Fellow of the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies, a Volkswagen/Mellon Fellow at the Leibniz-Institute for European History in Mainz, Germany, and Visiting Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Theology and Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York.
Barry Harvey is professor of theology in the Religion Department as well as in the Great Texts program of the Honors College here at Baylor University. Among other specialties, Barry is a Bonhoeffer scholar, exploring Bonhoeffer’s thought in classes, articles, and a book titled Taking Hold of the Real: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Profound Worldliness of Christianity. His other books include Politics of the Theological, Another City, and Can These Bones Live? He has served on the Board of the International Bonhoeffer Society, English Language Section, and the Editorial Board of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works.
Lori Brandt Hale is the Director of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN. She is the president of the International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section (IBS-ELS) Board of Directors, and has served on the IBS-ELS executive board for twenty years. With W. David Hall, Brandt Hale co-edited Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Political Resistance (Lexington Books, June 2020). It was the second book published in the Lexington Books series, Faith and Politics: Political Theology in a New Key. Together, they now serve as general editors for that series. Brandt Hale has written numerous articles and book chapters on Bonhoeffer’s political resistance, understanding of vocation, and relevance in contemporary times.
Stephen Haynes is the Albert Bruce Curry Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He is a Dietrich Bonhoeffer scholar and author of The Battle for Bonhoeffer: Debating Discipleship in the Age of Trump (Eeerdmans, 2018). In this book, Haynes examines “populist” readings of Bonhoeffer, including court evangelical Eric Metaxas’s book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.
The Rev. Dr. Jennifer M. McBride (Ph.D. University of Virginia) is Associate Rector for Formation at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Atlanta. Previously she served as Associate Professor of Theology at McCormick Theological Seminary and held the Board of Regents Endowed Chair in Ethics at Wartburg College. After a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Emory University, McBride directed a theology certificate program for incarcerated women through Emory's Candler School of Theology.
McBride is author of You Shall Not Condemn: A Story of Faith and Advocacy on Death Row, Radical Discipleship: A Liturgical Politics of the Gospel, The Church for the World: A Theology of Public Witness and is co-editor of Bonhoeffer and King: Their Legacies and Import for Christian Social Thought. In addition to book chapters and scholarly articles, her work has appeared in popular publications like The Christian Century and CNN.com and has been featured in the New York Times.
McBride is the recent past president of the International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section and serves as co-editor of the T&T Clark book series, New Studies in Bonhoeffer’s Theology and Ethics.
Di Rayson is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji and is an ecotheologian and Bonhoeffer scholar, having published widely. Her first book was Bonhoeffer and Climate Change: Theology and Ethics for the Anthropocene. Prior to becoming a theologian she had an extensive career in public health and social policy in Australia and the Pacific. Di is an Anglican lay preacher, singer and cellist. When in Australia she lives on a small farm between the mountains and the sea.
Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker: A Theological Vision for Discipleship and Life Together, Faith Formation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, The Congregation in a Secular Age, Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Church after Innovation, and The End of Youth Ministry? Root is also the coauthor (with Kenda Creasy Dean) of The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry. He is a frequent speaker and hosts the popular and influential When Church Stops Working podcast.
Robert Vosloo is currently professor in Systematic theology at the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and a senior researcher at the Beyers Naudé Center for Public Theology at the same institution. His most recent book is entitled Reforming Memory: Essays on South African Church and Theological History (Sun Media, 2017). His research interests include Reformed theology, 20th century South African church and theological history, philosophical and theological discourses on hospitality and recognition, and the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Reggie L. Williams is an associate professor of Christian ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary. He is a member of the International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society, as well as the Society for the Study of Black Religion, and is a founding member of the Society for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Religion. He is the author of “Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance,” which was selected as a Choice Outstanding Title in 2015 in the field of religion. The book focuses on Bonhoeffer’s exposure to Harlem Renaissance intellectuals and worship at Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist during his time at Union Seminary in New York from 1930 to 1931.
Frequently Asked Questions
The class is asynchronous and you can participate fully without being present at any specific time. Replays will be available on the Class Resource Page.
Intro livestream session
September 3rd - watch the replay here!
Live sessions (with replays available) will be held on Tuesdays (10am PT / 1pm ET).
October 22nd
November 5th and 19th
December 3rd, 17th, and 31st
How do I get access to the class content?
The complete class content collection will be available on the password protected resource page. The downloadable audio and video of each session will be uploaded there and available for at least a year.
What happens after I sign up?
The email you enter when signing up will receive an email from classinfo[at]homebrewedchristianity[dot]com. The email will include access to the resource page, details on how to join the class Facebook group, and more.
Do I have to have Facebook?
No. Facebook is not required to participate, but an additional way to connect with other class members and interact throughout the class.
We would love for you to use this online class for your Sunday School class or small group! We encourage every person to sign up and receive access to the Class Resource Page and Facebook group. Each person is welcome to make a donation on their own, or the church can designate one person to make a donation on behalf of the group. If the church is making the donation, feel free to make a donation in the amount of whatever you have budgeted for a curriculum of this quality. If you have further questions, please email classinfo[at]homebrewedchristianity[dot]com.
©2024 Homebrewed Christianity. All rights reserved.