BONHOEFFER DENIED THE RESURRECTION AND DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST

A Call to Refute “Scripture and Myth in Dietrich Bonhoeffer”
BONHOEFFER DENIED THE RESURRECTION AND DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST
Christian News, Vol. 48, No. 45, November 15, 2010

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who denied the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is now considered by Concordia Seminary, St. Louis as “perhaps the most important Lutheran Theologian since Martin Luther” (p. 8). When the Bonhoeffer centennial was celebrated in 2006 at both LCMS seminaries those who said they had the evidence to show that Bonhoeffer’s Christ was not the Christ of the Bible were denied an opportunity to present their evidence. The great scholars were not interested in the evidence. Both seminaries refuse to consider what Raymond Surburg, Cornelius Van Til and Richard Weikhart had written about Bonhoeffer’s theology.

Richard Weikart of the University of Iowa wrote in “Scripture and Myth In Dietrich Bonhoeffer” (Fides Historia 25,1 [1993]): “Thus Bonhoeffer saw all biblical language as problematic and in need of demythologizing. The entire Bible is myth, not just miracles.”
“Bonhoeffer identified the resurrection history as mythology but ‘this mythology is the thing itself’ Bonhoeffer said he out-demythologized Rudolf Bultmann, the famous demytholigizer of the Bible. The entire article is in this issue pp. 9ff).

Concordia Publishing House, particularly under Paul McCain, has been an enthusiastic promoter of Bonhoeffer. Its current catalog includes a full page of Bonhoeffer books, 10 published by ELCA’s Fortress Press and one by CPH. Christian News has sent “Scripture and Myth In Dietrich Bonhoeffer” to both LCMS seminaries and LCMS President Matthew Harrison, inviting them to respond. How is it possible for them to promote a theologian who denies the deity and resurrection of Christ and the historic Christian faith?