[Oe List ...] more on that Bonhoeffer movie

[Richard Alton]

Sorry about the money mistake. But I have seen the movie and thought
Terry's comments were right on target. I am going to try and get my
Methodist Church to go see the movie together and have  an ORID
conversation. Will be interesting. Sorry about yours and Sarah's eye
problems. Just had a cataract operation. The eyes seem to go first as we
age.
Thanks, Dick

On Fri, Nov 22, 2024 at 6:46 PM Richard Alton <richard.alton at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Marshal. go see the money and lead an ORID conversation with your
> community.. will surprise you.
> Dick
>
> On Fri, Nov 22, 2024 at 5:31 PM W. J. via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> wrote:
>
>> I still haven't seen the movie, but a few of us have. Here's my response
>> to a private email from one colleague:
>> Marshall
>>
>> D**, I'm guessing from your description that the screenplay was not the
>> result of any in-depth study of Bonhoeffer's life or his theology.
>> I bet the screenwriter didn't even bother to read Eberhard Bethge's
>> biography.
>> What I think he did is to create a cartoon Bonhoeffer character by
>> superimposing the skeletal outline of Bonhoeffer's life onto a thriller
>> movie framework.
>> Leaving out the nuances and agonizing complexities of Bonhoeffer's
>> ethical dilemmas as a pacifist.
>> I'm not shocked that this cartoon version of Bonhoeffer has him wishing
>> to "tear down the institutional church."
>> I think the real Bonhoeffer's life was more profoundly nuanced than that
>> kind of statement. His *Life Together* and *The Cost of Discipleship* were
>> written while he supervised the underground seminary at Finkenwalde for
>> students who were preparing to serve the dissenting Confessing Church that
>> opposed the official German Church coalition that embraced Hitler.
>> His focus on a "religionless Christianity" is a rejection of the 'smells
>> and bells' and medieval belief system Luther inherited from Catholicism in
>> favor of a radical immersion in the secular life of the world.
>> And also a radical following of Jesus rather than middle class cultural
>> norms.
>> Something like the monastic life of seminary students at Finkenwalde. Or
>> maybe the O:E.
>> Although Bonhoeffer never abandoned his upper-class entitlement to a
>> rich, privileged life.
>> I believe that the real Dietrich was in love with his young student
>> Eberhard
>> <https://spiritualfriendship.org/2014/08/08/one-more-post-on-the-gay-bonhoeffer/>,
>> who was the beneficiary of his will.
>> Dietrich reluctantly became engaged to marry the much younger Maria Von
>> Wedemeyer only after her grandmother relentlessly pushed her on him and
>> only after Eberhard got engaged to Dietrich's niece Renate.
>> I don't get the sense that he was ever hot to make love with Maria.
>> Perhaps their experience of 'true love' was always from an emotional
>> distance, especially after Dietrich's arrest just three months after their
>> announcement. There were letters and supervised visits. That's all.
>> After both became engaged, Dietrich wrote to Eberhard, imagining that
>>
>> *Now, we can resume our partnership, and we can travel together in those
>> places where we found so much joy, and we can leave our wives back in
>> Germany, in Berlin, or some place.*
>>
>> In other words, they both acquired beards, and Dietrich longed to renew
>> and pursue their spiritual friendship as 'soul mates' or whatever they
>> decided to call it.
>> But Eberhard was never willing to venture below the belt (as far as we
>> can tell).
>> I'm not at all sure that Dietrich was ever willing to go there, much as
>> he may have longed to do just that. He wrote in prison that he would die a
>> virgin.
>> But since Eberhard's *whole life* was about Dietrich--especially as his
>> martyred mentor and forever lost lover--how *hard* is it to understand
>> the depth of his love in return?
>> At least that's *my* version of Bonhoeffer. Now I'll have to see the
>> damn movie!
>> Marshall
>>
>> Dietrich Bonhoeffer Was Flamingly Gay-- Deal With It
>> <https://www.patheos.com/blogs/frankschaeffer/2014/06/dietrich-bonhoeffer-was-flamingly-gay-deal-with-it/>
>> Links in the message (1)
>> One More Post on the “Gay” Bonhoeffer
>> <https://spiritualfriendship.org/2014/08/08/one-more-post-on-the-gay-bonhoeffer/>
>> Dietrich Bonhoeffer Was Flamingly Gay--...
>> <https://www.patheos.com/blogs/frankschaeffer/2014/06/dietrich-bonhoeffer-was-flamingly-gay-deal-with-it/>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Richard H. T. Alton
> ICA Global Fund
> The Last Chapter
> United Methodist Net Zero
> T: 773.344.7172
> richard.alton at gmail.com
> Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2
> Won't you be my neighbor?
>


-- 
Richard H. T. Alton
ICA Global Fund
The Last Chapter
United Methodist Net Zero
T: 773.344.7172
richard.alton at gmail.com
Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2
Won't you be my neighbor?
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