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Christian Moral Action Summary for A-Level Christian Thought
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Christian Moral ActionDiscipleship Following the life and example of Jesus
Cheap grace Grace that is offered freely, but is received without any change in the recipient,
and is ultimately false and does not save
Costly grace Grace followed by obedience to God’s commands and discipleship
Passion Jesus’ suffering at the end of his life
Solidarity An altruistic commitment to stand alongside and be with those less fortunate, the
oppressed, and those who suffer
Obedience, leadership and doing God’s will
For Bonhoeffer, the call to discipleship is a call to obedience to the leadership of Jesus and the will of
God. The first disciples responded to the call not with a profession of faith, or a rational account of the
theology that they believed in, but an act of obedience. Discipleship entails the exclusive obedience to
the leadership of God and all other legal ties are burnt. This is controversial as it places discipleship
above the law and any human leadership, above the responsibilities of citizenship.
Doing God’s will means that we cannot take on the call on our own terms, fitting it around our life in a
way that is convenient. Bonhoeffer believed that such an act of obedience is the only real faith. God’s
call of a person to discipleship demands that they act in response. There is no time to think things
through, or make a declaration of your belief, you simply have to act.
‘Single-minded obedience’ is what Bonhoeffer called for. Reason, conscience, responsibility and piety
are all things that stand in the way of single-minded obedience. By responding to the call into
obedience, faith becomes possible. It is Jesus’ offer to us that makes it possible to respond, to step
away from attachments of life, and into the space where faith is possible.
Bonhoeffer warned against ethics which claim to be based on an ideology as they are extensions of
human ideas used to justify power over others.
Christian ethics begins with the view that humans are sinful and finite so no human decision can be
absolutely right or wrong. Bonhoeffer argued that in dire situations we should act out of faith and
hope. He was broadly in agreement that people should obey their governments as their aim is to
impose law and order on sinful human behaviour. However, in practice, Bonhoeffer saw that
governments exploited their power and justice was abandoned.
He believed that the state did not follow God’s will as it was too focused on itself; the state can never
understand or follow God’s will and so the state cannot assume ultimate, absolute power. The Church
should keep the state in check.
“Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.””
“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God
has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
Bonhoeffer questioned how people could know the will of God, but he believed that we would know in
the moment of action. Bonhoeffer was critical of the principle of agape when leading a moral life – he
argued that we need more than this principle to make moral decisions. He argued that love is a
human principle and human principles make people slaves to ideas whereas responding to the will of
God is liberating.
Bonhoeffer argued that it is almost impossible to give a “rational basis for the nature of the Leader”.
Leadership focuses on matters beyond the leader, not just the leader himself. Bonhoeffer also
suggested that Germany had made Hitler out to be perfect and had voluntarily given up their freedom
to follow such a tyrant.
Civil disobedience
Bonhoeffer suggested that Christians have a duty to the state, this duty being keeping it in check so
that it follows God’s will. If the state is making ‘reasonable people face unreasonable situations’ then
, Christians have a duty to disobey the state. He therefore considered that tyrannicide may be a
Christian duty if it means establishing order.
Bonhoeffer saw duty to God as far outweighing duty to the state. He said “there is no standing amid
the ruins of one’s native town in the consciousness that at least one had not oneself incurred guilt”,
that one was just as guilty of the town’s destruction for doing nothing as for being amongst those who
burnt it down. Love required injustice to be actively challenged and resisted.
Bonhoeffer was critical of Christians who argue that they are doing their duty whilst allowing evil to
prevail and was also critical of consequential ethics where the ends justify the means as we can never
calculate all possible outcomes. Therefore, there can be no rational justification for civil disobedience;
all Christians can do is act in faith and hope.
He spoke out against Nazi ideas in the university where he worked and lost his job for it, he spoke out
against Nazis at public lectures and was banned, he criticised the Confessing Church when it
conformed to Hitler’s demands, he participated in an illegal seminary and openly spoke about praying
for his country to lose the war and the defeat of Hitler.
In prison, Bonhoeffer decided that even though killing Hitler would be the right thing to do; killing is still
killing, he was simply hoping that God would forgive him.
Church as community and a source of spiritual discipline
In the Sermon on the Mount, Bonhoeffer sees the requirement that the followers of Jesus must be salt
and light; this is a metaphor for the presence of Christians amongst other people in the community.
Just as salt adds flavour to food, so Christians must act as moral people, just as a light held high
lights up the whole room. Here Bonhoeffer is writing about what he calls the ‘visible community’ of the
Church which must follow in its mission and must be a sign for others. Bonhoeffer notes the Bible
does not say you have the salt but you are the salt. In other words, it is about the being of the
disciples, not the sense that they have special information. It is about what they do that matters - good
works.
The Theological Declaration of Barmen, written by Barth and the Confessing Church asserted that the
centrality of Jesus as the only way to God and rejected other worldly leaders like Hitler. It asserted
Jesus’ authority over the whole of a person’s life and rejected the idea that another authority could
have authority over a person’s life, rather than God. Bonhoeffer later became disillusioned with the
Confessing Church and wrote in prison ‘the Church is her true self when she exists for humanity’.
In 1935, the leaders of the Confessing Church asked Bonhoeffer to lead and direct an illegal seminary
which eventually moved to the disused private school in Finkenwalde. The real purpose of this
community was to develop practical Christian living as a community of disciples and to exercise the
most practical of all Christian virtues; the virtue of discipline. The central practices at Finkenwalde
included:
Discipline; discipline leads to action. Life at Finkenwalde was very basic and Bonhoeffer
insisted that both the mind and body had to be disciplined.
Meditation; discipline is developed through meditation as the foundation for prayer.
Bible; frequent reading and discussion was at the heart of Christian life. This encouraged an
intelligent understanding.
Brotherhood; the community is bound together by love of and for Christ, sustained by the
holy spirit. In practical terms, Bonhoeffer insisted that the director should change often so that
the community would not become stuck in its ways. Bonhoeffer also insisted that former
students should be updated by regular reports and letters of life in the community.
Community for others; Bonhoeffer insisted that the Church is a community of forgiven not of
the righteous because no one is perfect. Christ died for all of humanity and therefore the
Church should be outward looking and engage with the world.
The Church community and congregation must not be closed in on itself, he argued, it must be a
source of renewal for all those spiritually damaged or drained and it should be a refuge for the
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