The Christian Classic, Life Together By Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The book Discipleship was wriiten by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and was published in 1937. It was his fourth volume of sixteen and has also been published under the title The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer was a pastor in Germany that was alter arrested, imprisoned and executed by the Nazis.

Bonhoeffer makes a good point when he talks about the importance of being alone, and being immersed within community. He summarizes the idealistic situations in which people are interacted with certain groups- whether that be living in a small home within a larger family, and also finding time of quiet to regroup and provide clarity to freshen your ways. Although being in solitude can be beneficial, Bonhoeffer also reveals that it is not healthy to always be alone. In this chapter Bonhoeffer mentions three important purposes for which the Christian needs a definite time when he can be alone throughout the day: Prayer, Scripture meditation, and intercession. Together, these practices all have their place throughout the day of meditation.

In the memoir “Night” by Elie Wiesel, a young boy and his family from Germany are put into Nazi concentration camps, only to find what the true horrors are. During the holocaust millions of innocent people were killed by the German leader “Hitler”. Throughout the times in the Camps, faith and God is questioned. It is shown that it can be hard to keep faith in God, when faced with hardships.

In the Introduction section of the book, The Hidden Lives of Congregations, Israel Galindo states that a congregation is a “corporate relationship organization” (3) and is not an organization. He points out that the hidden life of a congregation would depict the “nature” of a congregation. This further identifies the relationships and faith of the congregation. According to him, the universal principles are followed by the congregations so that “systemic relationships” can work. The leaders learn the roles that they have within the people who are the congregation. The journal will focus on Dr. Fowler’s question “what is the purpose of this gathering we call the church?”

The holocaust unleashed unparalleled cruelty and suffering to a great number of people; Elie Wiesel survived these hardships, but his innocence was shattered. For this reason, he wrote Night to share his personal memories of his time spent in the concentration camps and details the transformation of his faith and understanding of God. Each person Elie writes about attempts to reconcile their agony with their faith, albeit many fail or have their faith transformed. In this paper, I will describe how Wiesel’s understanding of God transforms as he experiences tragedy and how the various prisoners come to terms with their faith.

The author demonstrates that an adverse atmosphere can cause a person to relinquish their faith. The author establishes the purpose through the sufferings of Moishe the Beadle, Wiesel’s torment and plight of other prisoners in the concentration camp.

Society has long debated the direction of the effect religion has on people, and in Elie Wiesel’s Night, a book where Eliezer is torn from his home into a ghetto then liquidated into multiple concentration camps, all, while his father, himself and the other jews are tortured, beaten, and worked to death by Nazis and their partners, Elie Wiesel uses Eliezer’s faith to show the resilient nature of religion through anything, even hardship. Elie Wiesel shows that maintaining religion is so important, it is impossible to permanently undo.

The actions that people make around us can help us succeed as a society. In The Book of Martha, Martha’s actions helped solve a huge problem that humanity faced: greed. The human mind is capable of experiencing many emotions, and though we try to avoid negative emotions, there are times when we are victims to our own mind. In reality, humans have more negative characteristics other than greed. By practicing religion, one can find a way to better themselves. Our community and society revolves around our belief of a higher being. Through the teachings of God, we make decisions that will benefit our society. A way in which people practice their religion is by attending mass, held at a church. The church that I decided to visit is called, “The Parish of Santa Rosa,” in which I got the chance to interview one of the Pastors.

After experiencing life similar to hell on earth for nearly a year very few people could truthfully say that their faith is unscathed. Even in the modern world, people who have not been starved and pushed to work beyond their limits find themselves questioning whether or not there is a god, and if he is a just one. Throughout Night, a Holocaust memoir, it is shown that faith does not only refer to religion, but also the belief that humanity is sympathetic and warm-hearted. Elie Wiesel, author of Night, demonstrates how he loses his faith and watches those around him lose their confidence in God, and each other. Wiesel shares his thoughts with the readers writing how from a very young age he believed profoundly yet within a few months Wiesel finds himself questioning “Where is God?” (61). Loss of faith only propels Wiesel to find the strength within himself to persevere until his day of liberation.

“I have not lost faith in God [despite] moments of anger and protest; sometimes I have been closer to him for that reason.” Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel explains the struggle of his changing beliefs in God during the Holocaust in his memoir Night. In Night, Elie Wiesel, a religious boy, is taken to several concentration camps along with other Jews, and separated from everyone in his family except for his father. He and his father live dangerous lives in the concentration camps, from being beaten, watching other prisoners die, and being close to death, until eventually Elie’s father dies and the camp is liberated. As Elie Wiesel’s time in the Holocaust lengthens, his devoutness in God begins to diminish.

Most people around the world are in pursuit of a religion that reflects one’s personal interests, qualities, and beliefs. As a Holocaust victim, Elie Wiesel has a first hand experience with the overall cruelty that Jews become accustomed to in these times of torture. Within the second World War were additional wars inside the minds of innocent people, or internal conflicts. God is an entity that is positioned in the hearts of the enslaved; however, when put in distress, one’s faith in God slowly begins to repress. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, the significance of the loss in faith of God can likewise be perceived as the loss of identity. Wiesel reveals how during this time of pure hatred towards his religion, he becomes unfocused on who he used to be, and strays from his true self. Religion has been the motive of most wars throughout history, and often this external conflict leads the oppressed to internal conflict. As seen through Elie, one can see how this internal conflict or loss of faith alters personal identity.

In a world that does not know the Gospel anymore, we must indulge in it, and love our fellow community though they may not share similar values, but find balancing in still remaining in our own values. Though many of times we find ourselves in opposition of the majority of the world, we must exude Christ love onto others as He does to us unconditionally. The author addresses ways in which we are able to live out our faith and still find a place within our community though they may not share similar values.

During the Nazi German era, which took place from 1933 until 1945, Christianity played a very important role in the rise of Hitler’s regime. The Christian churches greatly influenced not only the formation of the Nazi regime, but also the German folk. The most influential churches were the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church. Even though Christianity itself faced a state of decline in the early 1930s, the higher clergy of the Christian churches in Germany still managed to make a significant impact. The amount of influence that the churches exerted can be measured not only through the impact of their resistance towards the Nazis, but conversely through the resistance carried out by

What does Christian community really mean? Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer gives insight into what Christians relationships were designed to be like. The main theme Bonhoeffer explores is Christ in the Christian community under the Word of God. Bonhoeffer explains God’s gift of community by arguing the following: “It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren” (Bonhoeffer, 1978, p. 20). In addition the author adds, “Christian community is like the Christian’s sanctification. It is a gift of God, which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification” (p. 30). Overall Life Together is biblically

Gerhard Lohfink, German-born in 1934, was Professor of New Testament at the University of Tübinger. In 1986 he resigned to live and work as a theologian in the Catholic Integrierte Gemeinde—a community of priests. This move seems to be a direct outflow of his studies and increasing conviction around the communal aspects of Church from which this book was birthed in 1982. In his introduction Lohfink talks about the influence of Adolf von Harnack towards an individual experience of God. Jesus and Community is Lohfink’s response to the outfall