Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of death and religious discrimination. 

The Introduction to Life Together is written by the translator: John W. Doberstein. Doberstein begins with Bonhoeffer’s death. He writes that on April 9, 1945, “in the concentration camp at Flossenburg, shortly before it was liberated by the allied forces, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by special order of Heinrich Himmler” (7). Doberstein goes on to say that Bonhoeffer lived for Christ, paying the ultimate price he could while on Earth: his death.

Bonhoeffer was one of seven children; he was born in Breslau but grew up in Berlin. His father was “the first to occupy a chair of psychiatry in Germany” (8). He also taught Bonhoeffer about realism, which was a large part of Bonhoeffer’s belief system, as reflected in his writing. He wrote of this in his last letter from prison, explaining that his father taught him that realism is “turning away from the phraseological to the real” (8). Bonhoeffer wrote that it was at his father’s side that he realized that his faith must go beyond the intellectual realm and be realized in his actions.

Bonhoeffer was also greatly influenced by the teachings of Martin Luther, best known for catalyzing the Protestant Reformation in 1517.