Ethics is the culmination of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theological and personal odyssey and one of the most important works of Christian ethics of the last century. Using the acclaimed DBWE translation, adapted to a more accessible format, this new edition features an insightful introduction by Clifford Green and supplemental material from Victoria J. Barnett. Written in the midst of the conspiracy to overthrow the Hitler regime, it is nonetheless chiefly concerned with ethics for the postwar time of reconstruction and peace. Though caught up in the vortex of momentous forces in the Nazi period, Bonhoeffer systematically envisioned a radically Christocentric, incarnational ethic for a postwar world, purposefully recasting Christians' relation to history, politics, and public life. Focused on Christ, the God who became human, and the vision of a world reconciled with God, Ethics shuns abstraction, seeks the will of God in concrete historical reality, and calls the church to be a transforming community in the world with a new responsibility to public life. This edition allows all readers to appreciate the cogency and relevance of Bonhoeffer's vision.
"Introduction - Clifford J. Green; 1. Christ, Reality, and Good: Christ, Church, and World; 2. Ethics as Formation; 3. Heritage and Decay; 4. Guilt, Justification, Renewal; 5. Ultimate and Penultimate Things; 6. Natural Life; 7. History and Good, 1; 8. History and Good, 2; 9. God's Love and the Disintegration of the World; 10. Church and World; 11. On the Possibility of the Church's Message to the World; 12. The ""Ethical"" and the ""Christian"" as a Topic; 13. The Concrete Commandment and the Divine Mandates."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), a German theologian, pastor, and ecumenist, studied in Berlin and at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He played a central role in the Confessing Church during the Nazi period and became one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century.
