Dietrich Bonhoeffer

BONHOEFFER, Dietrich. b. Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland), 4 February 1906; d. Flossenburg, 9 April 1945. Bonhoeffer studied at Tübingen, and then in Berlin (doctorate in theology, 1924-27; Habilitation 1930). He was a curate in Barcelona (1929-30), and was ordained in 1931, after his return from a year at Union Theological Seminary, New York (1930-31). He was a lecturer in systematic theology at Berlin University (1931-33), and then moved to the German Evangelical Church, Sydenham, and the Reformed Church of St Paul, London. He was a prominent figure in the Confessing Church (‘bekennende Kirche’), formed in 1934 at Barmen, Germany, and in 1935 became head of the Church’s seminary, which was...