Waiting for the Word: Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Speaking about God

Abstract

This study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, unique for its application of modern language theory, provides an insightful analysis of Bonhoeffer's use of religious language and its implications for understanding his thought more broadly.Sharpening our understanding of Bonhoeffer's powerful theology, Frits de Lange's findings shed fresh light on a great ambiguity in Bonhoeffer's thought -- his conception of religionless Christianity. Though Bonhoeffer's letters from prison seem to present a secularized theologian who sharply diagnoses a world come of age, de Lange's approach discerns instead a clear continuity in Bonhoeffer's thought. What has changed for Bonhoeffer is not his faith in the divine Word but, rather, his insight into the conditions that restrain the Word from being effectively heard.