God Is on the Cross: Reflections on Lent and Easter

By Dietrich Bonhoeffer

These forty stirring devotions will guide and inspire readers as they move thematically through the weeks of Lent and Easter, encountering themes of prayerful reflection, self-denial, temptation, suffering, and the meaning of the cross. Passages from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's letters and sermons provide special encouragement as readers prepare themselves spiritually for Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Supplemented by an informative introduction to Bonhoeffer's life and a Scripture passage for each day of the season, these daily devotions are moving reminders of the true gift of Christ on the cross.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Release date: Sep 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781611642018

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau in 1906. The son of a famous German psychiatrist, he studied in Berlin and New York City. He left the safety of America to return to Germany and continue his public repudiation of the Nazis, which led to his arrest in 1943. Linked to the group of conspirators whose attempted assassination of Hitler failed, he was hanged in April 1945.

Book preview

God Is on the Cross

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Is on the Cross

Reflections on Lent and Easter

TRANSLATED BY O.C. DEAN JR. COMPILED AND EDITED BY JANA RIESS

© 2012 Westminster John Knox Press

2012 paperback edition

Originally published in hardback in the United States

by Westminster John Knox Press in 2012

Louisville, Kentucky

Devotional text herein originally appeared in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s I Want to Live These Days with You: A Year of Daily Devotions (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007). Translated by O. C. Dean Jr. from the German So will ich diese Tag emit euch Leben by Dietrich Bonhoeffer Jahreslesebuch published in 2005 by Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh, Germany.

Quotations as indicated are used by permission from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Meditations on the Cross (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998). Translated by Douglas W. Stott from Das Auβerordentliche wird Ereignis: Kreuz und Auferstehung, published 1996 by Kaiser/ Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh, Germany.

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21—10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396. Or contact us online at www.wjkbooks.com.

Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission.

Scripture quotations from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, and 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission.

Book design by Drew Stevens

Cover design by Dilu Nicholas

Cover art: © Richard Lathulerie/istockphoto.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 1906–1945.

[Selections. English. 2010]

God is on the cross : reflections on Lent and Easter / by Dietrich Bonhoeffer ; translated by O. C. Dean Jr. ; compiled and edited by Jana Riess.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-664-23849-0 (alk. paper)

1. Lent—Meditations. 2. Easter—Meditations I. Riess, Jana. II . Title.

BV85.B62513 2012

242'.34—dc23

2012011937

ISBN 978-0-664-23920-6 (paper edition)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.

Most Westminster John Knox Press books are available at special quantity discounts when purchased in bulk by corporations, organizations, and special-interest groups. For more information, please e-mail [e-mail].

CONTENTS

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

EDITOR’S PREFACE

LENT WEEK ONE

PRAYERFUL REFLECTION

LENT WEEK TWO

SELF-DENIAL

LENT WEEK THREE

TEMPTATION

LENT WEEK FOUR

THE PURPOSE OF SUFFERING

LENT WEEK FIVE

THE CROSS

PREPARING FOR HOLY WEEK

HOLY WEEK

NOTES

SCRIPTURE INDEX

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

Since Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote before the days of inclusive gender, his works reflect a male-oriented world in which, for example, the German words for human being and God are masculine, and male gender was understood as common gender. In this respect, his language has, for the most part, been updated in accordance with the practices of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (NRSV); that is, most references to human beings have become gender-inclusive, whereas references to the Deity have remained masculine.

While scriptural quotations are mostly from the NRSV, it was necessary at times to substitute the King James Version (KJV), the Revised Standard Version (RSV), or a literal translation of Luther’s German version, as quoted by Bonhoeffer, in order to allow the author to make his point. In a few other cases, the translation was adjusted to reflect the wording of the NRSV.

O. C. Dean Jr.

EDITOR’S PREFACE

This devotional brings together daily reflections from one of the twentieth century’s most beloved theologians, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906– 1945). These reflections have been chosen especially for Lent and Easter, a time when the liturgical calendar highlights several themes of Bonhoeffer’s beliefs and teachings: that self-denial is a necessary aspect of a Christian life; that the cross is central to human understanding; and that, without the atonement, every one of us would stand forever in the role of Judas. Overall, the theme of suffering for Christ runs through Bonhoeffer’s work as one of the costs of discipleship. It is not the religious act that makes the Christian, he wrote, but participation in the suffering of God in the life of the world.¹