Being and Action Coram Deo

About this book

"Dietrich Bonhoeffer's sensitivity to the anthropological and ethical contours of theology has captured the imaginations of Christians around the globe. In this volume, Koert Verhagen provides one of the first in-depth treatments of the doctrine of justification as the theological framework within which Bonhoeffer understands human being and action, and its ethical implications for the Church today. Drawing on his early academic theology and his later ethics of discipleship, Verhagen argues that Bonhoeffer's emphasis on the social implications of justification leads to an understanding of human existence that is fundamentally relational. Along the way, he draws Bonhoeffer's thinking on this front into conversation with Luther, German idealism, the Nazi Weltanschauung, and contemporary Pauline scholarship. With an eye to the contemporary, practical value of Bonhoeffer's theology, Verhagen concludes by making the case that the retrieval of justification's social implications provides a critical corrective to ecclesial responses to white supremacy"