Theological Journal – April 16: Bonhoeffer on Easter and Resurrection


From Letters and Papers from Prison (Kindle edition)

“What is so liberating about Good Friday and Easter is the fact that our thoughts are pulled far beyond our personal circumstances to the ultimate meaning of all life, suffering, and indeed everything that happens, and this gives us great hope.” (Kindle location 511)

While it is possible to individualize Good Friday (“Were you there when they crucified my Lord”) and Easter, and has often been done in Western Christianity, Bonhoeffer sees biblically what is truly at stake at the cross and in the resurrection. Unless we see the cosmic scope of what happened there we miss the full significance and glory of Easter weekend. It all gets reduced down to my sins and my forgiveness, which is good news nut not Good News. Unless we see the whole cosmos gone wrong loaded on Jesus’ shoulders on the cross and raised with him as new creation we miss what Bonhoeffer here calls the “great hope” which is rightfully ours.

 

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