Disciple: The Way of Jesus is Our Witness to the World

How Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us of Jesus’ call to follow him

By Bishop Michael Curry

A few weeks ago, I went to Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, North Carolina, to interview Dr. Charles Marsh, an old friend from my days in Baltimore, Maryland. Now a commonwealth professor of Religious Studies and director of The Project of Lived Theology at the University of Virginia, Charles recently published Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

It is a book worth reading. Many know his work already, as Charles has written about the faith that fueled the civil rights movement in his home state of Mississippi, in the wider culture and in his own life, in his earlier works God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights, The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice and Civil Rights and The Last Days: A Son’s Story of Sin and Segregation At the Dawn of A New South. 

Now Charles has produced what may become a definitive biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor, theologian and passionate disciple of Jesus who lived in Nazi Germany, participated in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and was eventually executed and martyred for it. He was a man who lived his faith. In 1933, for example, just after Hitler consolidated his power over Germany, Bonhoeffer - in a national radio broadcast - opposed the ideology of national socialism and the actions of the Nazis, not because he was a good man, which he was, but because he was a follower of Jesus of Nazareth.

Bonhoeffer was also human. Strange Glory is not pious propaganda exalting the perfection and virture of Bonhoeffer as a saint, fully adorned in white robes and crowned with an other-worldly halo. Strange Glory is a biography of faith, of a real human being of faith: complex, saintly, sinful, frightened, courageous, all of it coming together to comprise one extraordinary mix of a person. It is the story of the life and Spirit of Jesus being lived out for real in an altogether human, human being. It is the story of a disciple finding the courage to follow Jesus in spite of his fears, doubts, anxiety and excuses, even to the point of sacrificing his own life for the cause of God’s love in the world. It is a miracle story, miraculous because it happens to be true. I recently spoke to someone who said this is biography, history and theology, yet it reads like a novel. That is a spot-on description. 

But I say all of this not to review the book, although I guess you can tell I’m excited about it and think it well worth reading. Rather, it is the motivating power and the source of Bonhoeffer’s conviction and courage that I want people to see. Bonhoeffer did what he did and became who he became because he was walking the way of Jesus, following him prayerfully and practically in his life, and in that way became his witness in the world.

In his book The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer observes the first and last words of Jesus to Simon Peter were the words, “Follow me.” (Mark 1:17, John 21:19)

This issue of the Disciple features articles, stories, and biblical and theological reflections about some of the ways followers of Jesus in North Carolina are witnessing in the world through prophetic witness and service to others, all in the name of Jesus. Bonhoeffer’s legacy to those who would be disciples - in ours or any time - is the solemn reminder that it is the way of Jesus that is the source of our service, and the way of Jesus that is our witness.

The Rt. Rev. Michael B. Curry was elected the 11th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina in 2000. Contact him at [email protected].

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