Who is Jesus Christ for Us Today?

Second Tuesdays of the Month via Zoom,

1:00pm – 2:30pm (Pacific Time)

Seminar Format: 1:00-1:30 Presentation, 1:30-2:30 Discussion

Preparation: Read selected texts for each session and respond to given prompts (in 25 words or less/question).

SEMINAR SCHEDULE

2023
October 10: Introduction
November 14: Christ Existing as Community
December 12: The One Knocking at the Door

2024
January 9: Being in Christ
February 13: Christ the Center
March 12: The Cost of Following Jesus
April 9: The One Who Rules by Serving
May 14: The Responsible Person Par Excellence
June 11: The Person for Others

DESCRIPTION

In an April 30, 1944, letter from prison to Eberhard Bethge, Bonhoeffer shares that “what keeps gnawing at me is the question, what is Christianity, or who is Christ actually for us today?” A case can made that this question was gnawing at him, implicitly if not explicitly, throughout his relatively short career as a pastor and scholar. In our seminar this year, working with concise selections from his earliest writings through his later writings, we will explore the various ways he responded to the question “Who is Jesus Christ for us today?” We will see that Bonhoeffer is attentive to both the individual and corporate forms of Jesus Christ. As always, we will want to consider what Bonhoeffer’s insights mean for us in our time and place. Who is Jesus Christ for us today?

TEXTS

Option A: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works in English (DBWE) (Minneapolis: Fortress Press)

Option B: The Bonhoeffer Reader (BR) edited by Green and DeJonge (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013) and DBWE Handouts, as needed

READINGS

October 10 (A) DBWE 8:361–67 (B) BR 775–80

November 14 (A) DBWE 1:134–41, 141–60, 184, 192–93, 198–200 (B) BR 39–53

December 12 (A) DBWE 10:342–59, 542–46 (B) BR 57–73

January 9 (A) DBWE 2:136–61 (B) BR 92–109

February 13 (A) DBWE 12:299–360 (B) BR 261–313

March 12 (A) DBWE 4:37–83, 100–110, 137–45 (B) BR 455–503

April 9 (A) DBWE 5:93–107 (B) not available in BR

May 14 (A) DBWE 6:257–98 (B) BR 636–66

June 11 (A) DBWE 8:361–67, 480–82, 485–87, 499–504 (B) BR 775–80, 803–06, 811–15

To register and receive the zoom link (and additional information), email Pastor Mark Brocker, Ph.D.: [email protected].