Bearing Sin as Church Community: Bonhoeffer's Hamartiology

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Hyun Joo Kim claims that Bonhoeffer transforms and reconstructs the Augustinian doctrine of original sin by shifting the hamartiological premise from the doctrine of God to the doctrine of the church based on his Lutheran resources. In Bonhoeffers view, Augustines doctrine of original sin does not fully relate the doctrine of sin to the responsibility of the saints. In order to reform Augustinian hamartiology, Bonhoeffer appropriates Augustines notion of the church as the whole Christ (totus Christus), which is located in Augustines ecclesiology. Kim explicates how Augustine relates his epistemological premises in his Christianized Platonism to his formulation of the doctrine of original sin, and examines how Luthers Christocentric standpoint transforms Augustines anthropology and ultimately leads Luther to his relational hamartiology. Kim contends that Bonhoeffers later hamartiology and ethics contain the most distinctive characteristics of Bonhoeffers doctrine of sin, in that he not only incorporates both the active and passive dimensions of sin, but also intensifies his continuing notion of vicarious representative action towards the church community.

Reviews

Bonhoeffer appears as a highly creative inheritor of the western doctrine of sin in Kims marvellously clear narration of the historical development of this central Christian doctrine. In doing so she makes intelligible one of the most difficult and misused and yet central ideas in Bonhoeffers writings, vicarious representative action. -- Brian Brock, University of Aberdeen, UK
Rigorous, learned and creative, Hyun Joo Kims work represents not only an important new reading of Dietrich Bonhoeffers thought, but also a fresh and thought-provoking perspective on the doctrine of sin. Tracing Bonhoeffers critical development of Augustinian and Lutheran thought, Kim discovers an account of sin that takes seriously human existence in and for community. She ably demonstrates Bonhoeffers continuing relevance for Christian communities as they navigate the complexities of responsibility in relation to sin and evil. -- Rachel Muers, University of Leeds, UK

Author Bio

Hyun Joo Kim is a lecturer in the Department of Systematic Theology at Torch Trinity Graduate University in Seoul, Korea.