Directed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the seminary existed only two years before being shuttered by the Geheime Staatspolizei in 1937. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire into the Medieval Period it was the monks of Ireland who literally saved civilization (Good read: How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill). And even though it only existed for two years before being shut down by the Gestapo, Bonhoeffer’s illegal seminary at Finkenwalde was a snapshot of Bonhoeffer’s prophetic vision of the essence of discipleship training within the context of a new monasticism resulting in the renewal of the Church. ... the description advisedly and in deference to House’s preferred residential model—when a learning community like Bonhoeffer’s Finkenwalde, House’s Beeson Divinity School, or any one of a thousand lean-and-mean seminaries across the globe gets it right. During this time, Bonhoeffer was teaching pastors in an underground seminary, Finkenwalde (the government had banned him from teaching openly). At its beginning stages, it targeted the elderly and those with health deficiencies. Who produces them? We can beat this virus together.”, Contact: Valerie Orleans, vorleans@fullerton.edu. The title conveys how today’s monks in 24/7 prayer/furnace rooms in the major cities of the world look more like a pierced and tattooed generation of youth. It also focuses on a deeper issue — the power of ideas. ), “I was meeting with one of my professors, Bradley Starr, to discuss my broad research interests,” he recalled. For more information , visit the Council on Undergraduate Research. Bonhoeffer became captivated by and fascinated with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as the expectation Christ had of his followers. For more information , visit the. It spans all the traditions. His influential writings focused on Christianity’s role in a secular society. seminary he led. While the circumstances were radically different, it was a certain kind of prohibition that led to the establishment of the Confessing Church’s underground seminary at Finkenwalde, Germany. It is my intention here to open our eyes to the breadth of what the prayer movement looks like in the world today. Bonhoeffer saw “these words of mine” in Matthew 5-7 as foundational for the Christian life and putting them into practice to be the key to successfully weathering the storms to come. We need to be wary of generalising from one context to another as George Bush did. Finkenwalde was an illegal seminary where a young scholar named Dietrich Bonhoeffer taught a handful of pastors between 1935 and 1937. All Rights Reserved. Bonhoeffer was taken to Berlin and placed in a military cell at Tegel Prison. Bonhoeffer would return to America a second time in June of 1939 to take a teaching position at Union Theological Seminary, as he avoided the military call-up issued by Germany. , which takes place in the nation’s capital. The Western Christian tradition as a whole, and especially the institutions of higher education, were pervaded by spiritual inwardness, abstraction, and social apathy. For centuries it was referred to as monasticism. House is the author of numerous books, including Bonhoeffer’s Seminary Vision. Thompson is fascinated with Bonhoeffer, who corresponded with Gandhi in the early 1930s about nonviolent pacificism and spent time in Harlem … After the Gestapo closed his “illegal” seminary in 1937, Bonhoeffer wrote Life Together. A formal syllabus of ministry courses. This fall the semester theme was chosen before my arrival -- Finkenwalde: In the School of Bonhoeffer. There he and his students lived in community the daily rhythms of life and prayer which is spelled out for us in his short book Life Together. Many people don't know Bonhoeffer as a theological educator when in fact he was a seminary director for longer than anything else he did in his life (1935-40). The crucible of political hostility and societal animosity toward Christians is definitely on the rise in the world and it tends to produce a more pure discipleship. The seminary at Finkenwalde resisted those ideas and taught a counter-narrative to combat targeted discrimination. Bonhoeffer, however, saw the flaw and addressed it directly in lectures from Finkenwalde. Here we enter more closely into the importance of that period of Bonhoeffer’s life in which he undertook to direct the illegal “underground” seminary at Finkenwalde, a remote village in Pomerania. Ventura, CA. For Bonhoeffer, the Finkenwalde rule included life together in authentic Christian community, or in his words, banding together. By December, Himmler declares all examinations for the Confessing Church invalid, all training there invalid and all participants liable to arrest. The foundation of the curriculum was “The Discipleship of Christ” as given in the Sermon on the Mount. Bonhoeffer writes in his Ethics: “The knowledge of Jesus Christ is a living reality. For centuries they have been called monasteries. The school was regularly raided by the Gestapo and many of its students were arrested. In September, the Nuremberg Laws are passed, canceling citizenship for German Jews. He trained his students to use spiritual weapons and not take up the world’s weapons of war. But the ancient spiritual disciplines need to be reawakened too; Meditation, Fasting, Study, Simplicity, Silence, Solitude, Submission, Service, Confession, Worship. In 1935 Bonhoeffer was appointed to organize and head a new seminary for the Confessing Church at Finkenwalde (Pomerania), which continued in disguised form until 1940, despite its proscription by the political authorities in 1937. The seminary at Finkenwalde resisted those ideas and taught a counter-narrative to combat targeted discrimination. “Sixty projects were selected, from across the nation, out of 400 applications. But Bonhoeffer was deeply troubled as he contemplated the will of God for his life and for Germany in such a dark hour under Hitler. A virtual poster session is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21 at 9 a.m. on Twitter. Eight years earlier Bonhoeffer was leading an underground seminary in a chilly remote place called Finkenwalde. He’s written several books including Obtainable Expectations: Timely Exposition of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and The Fall Away Factor. There he taught what we we know today as his Cost of Discipleship, much of which is a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. Bonhoeffer, an excellent pianist, would accompany their singing, or he would play records of Negro spirituals he had brought from New York. I want to reawaken the contemplative you if the contemplative you isn’t already awake. He was banned from lecturing at universities in August 1936. Bonhoeffer consciously opposed these tendencies. To report problems or comments, please contact strategiccomm@fullerton.edu. Bethge was born in Warchau, Landkreis Jerichow II, Province of Saxony, the Kingdom of Prussia, near Magdeburg, on August 29, 1909.He attended several universities, as is customary for theology students in Germany, before attending the underground Finkenwalde Seminary in Pomerania where Bonhoeffer taught in the name of Germany's Confessing Church (part of the anti-Nazi resistance). At CSUF, there are many programs that benefit from federal funding, including the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholar and the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, all programs that Thompson is involved in. They did so by putting the Bible at the center of their work. (Bonhoeffer was a German evangelical pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident. As religious freedom evaporated in Germany, Bonhoeffer trained pastors at an illegal seminary in Finkenwalde. “When I mentioned Bonhoeffer, his eyes lit up. “Ultimately, the research reveals the power of resistance,” Thompson said. In our day when church leaders more resemble CEO’s and celebrities than self-denying devotees of Jesus, and in our day when religious liberties are increasingly in peril again, Bonhoeffer’s model at Finkenwalde is truly a call back to the fundamentals of Christian discipleship, Christian community, a daily rhythm of prayer, Sermon on the Mount lifestyles and ethics. All Rights Reserved. Hung by his neck in a German concentration camp, pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s vision of “a new monasticism” also suffered an early martyrdom of sorts. In 1935, Bonhoeffer was presented with a much-sought after opportunity to study non-violent resistance under Gandhi in his ashram, but perhaps remembering Barth's rebuke, he decided to return to Germany in order to head an underground seminary for training Confessing Church pastors in Finkenwalde. A virtual poster session is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21 at 9 a.m. on Twitter. 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