I have entitled this the western church but in truth it is a collection of some writings by Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the state of the church in America circa the 1930’s. The Bonhoeffer who wrote the following is a 24 year old Ph.D. The reason for the title is because it seems to me that what Bonhoeffer observed in 30’s America is now relatively widespread throughout the western church. You be the judge – opinions welcome. Please remember he is writing in the 1930’s so some of his language may be considered inappropriate for today.
On Union Theological Seminary in New York (consider whether this is the state of most seminaries today):
"There is no theology here…they talk a blue streak without the slightest substantive foundation and with no evidence of any criteria. The students – on the average 25 to 30 years old – are completely clueless with respect to what dogmatics is really about. They are unfamiliar with even the most basic qustions. They become intoxicated with liberal and humanistic phrases, laugh at the fundamentalists, and yet basically are not even up to their level."
" The lack of seriousnss with which the students here speak of God and the world is, to say the least, extremely surprising…Over herre one can hardly imagine the innocence with which people on the brink of their ministry, or some of them already in it, ask questions in the seminar for practical theology – for example, whether one should really preach Christ. In the end, with some idealism and a bit of cunning, we will be finished even with this – that is their sort f mood."
"The theological atmosphere of the Union Theological Seminary is accelerating the process of the secularization of Christianity in America. Its criticism is directed mostly against the fundamentalists and to a certain extant also against the radical humanists in Chicago; it is healthy and necessary. But there is no sound basis on which one can rebuild after demolition. It is carried away with the general collapse. A seminary in which it can come about that a large number of students laugh out loud in a public lecture at the quoting of a passage from Luther’s De sevo arbitrio n sin and frgiveness because it seems to them to be comic has evidently completely forgotten what Christian theology by its very nature stands for…I am of the opinion that one can learn extraordinarily little over here."
On the Church (consider whether this is the state of the broder church today):
"Things are not much different in the church. The sermon has been reduced to parenthetical church remarks about newspaper events. As long as I’ve been here, I have heard only one sermon in which you could hear something like a genuine proclamation, and that was delivered by a negro (indeed, in general I am increasingly discovering greater religius power and originality in Negroes). One big question contunually attracting my attention in view of these facts is whether one here really can speak about Christianity…There is no sense to expect the fruits where the Word really is no longer being preached. But then what becomes of Christianity per se?"
"In New York they preach about virtually everything; only one thing is not addressed, or is addressed so rarely that I have as yet been unable to hear it, namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the cross, sin and forgiveness, death and life."
"This is quite characteristic of the churches I saw. So what stands in place of the Christian message? An ethical and social idealism borne by a faith in pogress that – who knows how – claims the right to call itself Christian. And in the place of the church as the congregation of believers in Christ there stands the church as a social corporation. Anyone who has seen the weekly program of one of the large New York churches, with their daily, indeed almost hourly events, teas, lectures, concerts, charity events, opportunities for sports, games, bowling, dancing for every age goup, anyone who has heard how they try to persude a new resident to join the church, insisting that you’ll get into society quite differently by doing so, anyone who has become acquainted with the embarassing nervousness with which the pastor lobbies for membership – that person can well assess the character of such a church. All these things, of course, take place with varying degrees of tactfulness, taste, and seriousness, some churches are basically "charitable" churches, others have primarily a social identity. One cannot avoid the impression, however, that in both cases they have forgotten what the real point is."
On Racism (consider our prevalent attitudes toward aboriginal peoples or new immigrants in Canada):
"The separation of whites from blacks in the southern states really does make a rather shameful impression. In railways that separation extends to even the tiniest details. I found that the cars of the negroes generally look cleaner than the others. It also pleased me when the whites had to crowd into their railway cars while often only a single person was sitting in the entire railway car for negroes. The way the southerners talk about the negroes is simply repugnant, and in this regard the pastors are no better than the others. I still believe that the spiritual songs of the southern negroes represent some of the greatest artistic achievements in America. It is a bit unnerving that in a country with so inordinately many slogans about brotherhood, peace, and so on, such things still continue completely uncorrected."
On the Prohibition of Alcohol (to his twin sister in a postcard on celebrating their birthday):
"Unfortunately I can’t even toast you with a glass of wine at this occasion, since it’s forbidden by federal law; how frightfully tedious, this Prohibition in which no one believes."
At 24 Bonhoeffer’s insights are remarkable and would develop into prophetic. I believe much of what he saw in 1930’s America has come to pass throughout the western church. I would love your opinions for or against.
Harnessing Chaos 