Eighty years after Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor executed for resisting Adolf Hitler, met his fate at a Nazi gallows, his legacy is being reshaped in ways that alarm scholars and his family.
Once celebrated for his moral courage against tyranny, Bonhoeffer has emerged as a symbolic hero for some White Christian nationalists in America, who invoke his name to justify their vision of a Christian nation and, in extreme cases, political violence.
This distortion of a theologian’s life, rooted in resistance to oppression, raises urgent questions about how history is wielded in today’s polarized debates.
It was April 14, 2025, when renewed attention to Bonhoeffer’s execution—80 years ago this month—sparked fresh scrutiny of his evolving image. Arrested in 1943 for his role in a plot to assassinate Hitler, Bonhoeffer was hanged at Flossenbürg concentration camp on April 9, 1945, just weeks before Germany’s surrender.
His writings, like The Cost of Discipleship, remain Christian classics, but his association with violence against a dictator has made him a complex figure for modern activists. Scholars warn that his story is being reframed to fit narratives far removed from his principles.
A Theologian Against Tyranny
Born in 1906 in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor and neo-orthodox theologian whose intellect shone early. Raised in Berlin’s academic elite—his father was a prominent psychiatrist—Bonhoeffer studied at the University of Berlin, earning a doctorate at 21.
His global travels shaped his worldview: in 1930, he studied at Union Theological Seminary in New York, where he taught Sunday school at Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, absorbing the African-American church’s passion for justice.
Back in Germany, Bonhoeffer watched the Nazi rise with horror. By 1933, two days after Hitler became chancellor, Bonhoeffer denounced the Führerprinzip—the cult of leadership—on radio, only to be cut off mid-broadcast.
As the Nazis co-opted churches, forcing pastors to join the party and banning Jewish converts, Bonhoeffer co-founded the Confessing Church, a resistance movement that rejected Nazi ideology. His vocal opposition to anti-Semitism and euthanasia programs made him a target, leading to his 1943 arrest by the Gestapo.
The Plot That Sealed His Fate
Bonhoeffer’s resistance deepened after 1938, when his brother-in-law, Hans von Dohnanyi, drew him into a conspiracy to overthrow Hitler.
Working under the cover of Germany’s Military Intelligence Department—a hub of anti-Nazi activity—Bonhoeffer helped relay peace proposals to the Allies, including a 1942 trip to Sweden to meet British bishop G.K.A. Bell.
His involvement in the July 20, 1944, plot to kill Hitler, though indirect, led to his execution after documents linked him to the failed assassination.
His final months in prison revealed a man at peace. Letters and Papers from Prison, published posthumously, blended theology with reflections on a “religionless Christianity,” influencing thinkers worldwide. Bonhoeffer counseled fellow prisoners, earning respect across denominations.
His last words—“This is the end—for me, the beginning of life”—echoed his faith as he faced the gallows at 39.
Anti-Nazi Pastor Embraced by White Christian Nationalists
How did a pastor who fought Nazi racism become a hero to a movement often tied to exclusionary rhetoric? The answer lies in selective storytelling.
Bonhoeffer’s support for violence against Hitler—a moral dilemma he wrestled with as a pacifist—has been seized upon by some White Christian nationalists, who see parallels to their own battles against perceived cultural decline.
His image as a righteous rebel resonates with those who view America as a Christian nation under siege.
Eric Metaxas, a conservative author, played a pivotal role with his 2010 biography, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.
The book, a bestseller, portrayed Bonhoeffer as a model of Christian defiance, appealing to evangelicals. Critics, however, argue Metaxas oversimplified Bonhoeffer’s theology, aligning him with modern conservative causes.
Posts on X and essays by far-right scholars have since invoked Bonhoeffer to support the MAGA movement, framing today’s political fights as akin to Nazi-era struggles—a comparison scholars call “menacing.”
A History of Misuse
Bonhoeffer’s name has been tied to violence before. In the 1980s and 1990s, far-right Christian activists bombed reproductive health clinics, with Paul Hill, executed in 1994 for murdering a Florida doctor and volunteer, citing Bonhoeffer to justify preventing a “holocaust.”
The militant group Missionaries to the Preborn echoed this, likening Hill to the pastor. In 2005, televangelist Pat Robertson invoked Bonhoeffer to call for assassinating leaders like Saddam Hussein, framing such acts as morally necessary.
The January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, where Christian nationalist symbols abounded, intensified concerns. While many in the movement reject violence, its fringes have embraced Bonhoeffer’s “moment” of resistance as a blueprint.
Stephen R. Haynes, author of The Battle for Bonhoeffer, warns that some far-right Christians, inspired by a near-messianic view of certain leaders, may see violence as a “Bonhoeffer moment”—a righteous act against evil.
Scholars and Family Fight Back
Bonhoeffer’s family and experts are pushing back. Last year, the International Bonhoeffer Society issued a statement decrying the “false and menacing equations” between today’s America and Nazi Germany.
They argue that Bonhoeffer, who defended Jews and minorities, would recoil at being tied to a movement accused of hostility toward Black people and immigrants. “He’s being transformed into a warrior for causes he’d oppose,” said Lori Brandt Hale, the society’s president.
The distortion stems from multiple sources: Metaxas’s writings, a recent film, Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin., and conservative essays.
The film’s poster, showing Bonhoeffer with a gun, amplifies a militant image, though scholars note he never carried weapons. Filmmakers defend the portrayal, arguing it captures his moral complexity, but critics see it as fueling misinterpretation.
Echoes of Nazi-Era Manipulation
Ironically, Bonhoeffer’s misuse mirrors the Nazi era he fought. By the mid-1930s, the German Christian movement, backed by Hitler, reinvented Jesus as an Aryan hero, with baptism rituals praising the Führer.
Historians note Germany’s post-World War I humiliation and economic despair primed citizens for a militant Christianity that Hitler exploited. “Theologians reinterpreted the Christian story for Germany’s glory,” said historian Charles Marsh, drawing unsettling parallels to today’s nationalist rhetoric “The promise of a chosen nation resonated then, as it does now,” he added.
Germany’s churches, divided among Lutheran, Reformed, and United denominations, were vulnerable to Nazi co-optation.
Many pastors joined the party, believing Hitler was God’s instrument. Bonhoeffer’s Confessing Church resisted, but even it faltered, with figures like Martin Niemöller later admitting guilt for not doing enough. This history underscores why scholars fear Bonhoeffer’s legacy being twisted to serve nationalist ends.
A Complex Faith
Bonhoeffer’s views on Jews were not flawless. He initially focused on protecting Jewish converts, reflecting traditional Christian biases, though he later embraced the Hebrew Bible and risked his life to save Jews.
In 1996, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum honored him as a “righteous gentile,” but noted his theological blind spots. His nuanced stance—fierce against anti-Semitism yet shaped by his era—complicates his canonization, making his misuse all the more jarring.
His pacifism, too, evolved. Early on, he rejected violence, influenced by Harlem’s Black churches and Gandhi’s teachings.
Yet by 1944, he accepted the plot against Hitler as a necessary sin, a choice he agonized over. This tension—faith versus action—makes him a malleable symbol for those seeking to justify their causes.
A Call for Clarity
As Bonhoeffer’s legacy is contested, scholars urge a return to his writings. Ethics and Letters and Papers reveal a man grappling with morality in crisis, not a warrior for any ideology.
“He’d challenge today’s extremes,” said Hale, noting his ecumenical work with global churches. Public figures, from Bono to Jimmy Carter, have cited his universal appeal, yet his core message—costly grace—demands accountability, not conquest.
The fight over Bonhoeffer reflects deeper divides. For some, he’s a cautionary tale of faith twisted by politics; for others, a beacon of resistance. As America navigates its own tensions, his story warns against sanitizing history to serve the present.
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