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The Pragmatic Roots of Bonhoeffer's Ethics: A Reappraisal of Bonhoeffer's Time at Union Theological Seminary, 1930-1931

Type:
Article
Author:
Cahill, Charlie
Subject:
Religion
Publisher:
Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, United states
Date publisher:
2013
File extension:
pdf
Resource:
German Studies Review, Volume 36, Issue 1, 2013, pages 21-39
Language:
eng
num view:
0
num down:
0

Content

One of these chords is the primacy of the moment in the thinking of both men. "Truth happens to an idea," explained [William James] in the lecture he published as Pragmatism in 1907, "It becomes true, is made true by events. Its verity is in fact an event, a process . . . 'the true' is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as 'the right' is only the expedient in the way of our behaving."33 In similar language [Dietrich Bonhoeffer] explained that "only in the actual execution of a given action do the concepts of 'good' and 'bad' apply, that is, only in the given present moment."34 For Bonhoeffer, any attempt to devise a timeless ethical system does damage to the present moment and it is only in the present moment that man encounters God. "The sparks of the Holy Spirit," claims Bonhoeffer, "flash not in ideas and principles but in the necessary decision of the moment."35 Though for different reasons, both James and Bonhoeffer expressed great antipathy toward any sort of universally valid ethical system, emphasizing rather the priority of the moment. Both men also see the danger of such a system in similar terms. For James it would provide a "moral holiday"-not a wholly negative term, as it can aid "sick souls" who cannot handle moral responsibility-and for Bonhoeffer it would allow man to feel "secure sub species aeternitatis."

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