Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community

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

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, writer, and anti-Nazi activist. Born in Breslau, Germany (now Poland), Bonhoeffer and his twin sister were the sixth and seventh of eight children born to parents Paula and Karl Bonhoeffer. Both parents were highly intelligent and encouraged Bonhoeffer’s natural inquisitiveness and talents from a young age. Bonhoeffer’s career as a theologian was influenced by his family’s history: His father was a neurologist and a psychiatrist known for his criticism of Sigmund Freud, and his mother was a teacher whose grandfathers were a Protestant theologian and a renowned painter. Bonhoeffer knew he wanted to be a pastor as early as 14, when he decided to pursue an education in theology.

Bonhoeffer began his studies at the University of Tübingen before relocating to the University of Berlin. At age 21, he graduated summa cum laude with a doctor of theology degree from Humboldt University of Berlin. He continued his studies by visiting America in 1930 in pursuit of a Sloane Fellowship at the Union Theology Seminary in NYC, but he found himself unimpressed by American theology practices. However, while there, he also became acquainted with Adam Clayton Powell Sr.