Dietrich Bonhoeffer and a Theology of the Exception

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Engaging with the many debates about the meaning and character of Bonhoeffers late resistance theology and action, particularly as it relates to his participation in the attempted coup d'tat against Hitler, this book attends to Bonhoeffers understanding of the exception. Resisting the common reduction of the exception to a political or ethical concept, O'Farrell argues that the exception for Bonhoeffer is an extraordinary moment in history that disarms persons, impinging on ones understanding of politics and ethics. Through a wide engagement with the Bonhoeffer corpus, this book claims that this leads to distinctive narrations of key concepts in Bonhoeffers corpus: responsibility, the free venture, simple obedience, and action beyond the law. It also offers a different portrait of Bonhoeffer to contemporary narrations. The Bonhoeffer that emerges is neither a Niebuhrian realist, a pacifist, or a religious fanatic, but one who is impelled to act apart from the law without this action becoming arbitrary. This Bonhoeffer provides a hopeful political witness that seeks a world beyond the conflicts and divisions of this age.

Reviews

Bonhoeffers involvement in the plot to kill Hitler has been one of the most discussed and contested aspects of his witness. Kevin OFarrell deftly shows us why so much of that attention is misguided wish-fulfilment. Bonhoeffer was neither a freewheeling existentialist nor a heroic warrior against evil. He was a theologian first and foremost who saw that faithful Christian action is oriented by a fundamentally Christocentric logic through which the vagaries of history and the violence within it are revealed in a totally unexpected light. * Brian Brock, University of Aberdeen, UK *
This is a remarkable book in terms of its analysis and mode of reasoning. It provides an in-depth and hermeneutically sophisticated reading of Bonhoeffers language of the exception and its cognates that places the concept concretely within Bonhoeffers theologically-inflicted account of history. What emerges in the process is not the image of the heroic and ingenuous moral agent but of a decentered self that is overwhelmed amidst the fragmentariness and tragedy of life by Gods creative and empowering action. A highly original and compelling contribution to Bonhoeffer studies! * Robert Vosloo, Stellenbosch University, South Africa *

Author Bio

Kevin OFarrell is Director of Theological Education & Engagement at Joni and Friends, USA.