Bonhoeffer and Idiocy in 2020

Chris Nye
9 min readNov 13, 2020
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (second from right) at Tegel Prison, circa 1941

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is frequently misrepresented as a simple man: he saw the evil of Hitler, stood against him, and was killed for it. This picture is not entirely wrong, but it is certainly incomplete. One must only read Letters and Papers from Prison, the posthumously published collection of writings, to see the conflicted conscience behind this pastor’s actions (and inactions). The “letters and papers” are wonderful, and they include…

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Chris Nye

Living in Portland, Oregon with my wife and son. Doctoral candidate at Duke University. Author of a few books: chrisnye.co/books