Friday, December 14, 2012

The Essence of Christianity

Last night I was reading Eric Metaxas' celebrated biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and I came across this summation of Bonhoeffer's theology in the words of Metaxas. I thought it was great:

"The essence of Christianity is not about religion at all, but about the person of Christ... Religion was a dead, man-made thing, and at the heart of Christianity was something else entirely—God himself.

[Bonhoeffer] aggressively attacked the idea of “religion” and moral performance as the very enemies of Christianity and of Christ because they present the false idea that somehow we can reach God through our moral efforts.This led to hubris and spiritual pride, the sworn enemies of Christianity. “Thus,” he said, “the Christian message is basically amoral and irreligious, paradoxical as that may sound.”"

2 comments:

  1. Bonhoeffer was one wise man, wasn't he? I wish more Christians today would grasp that truth.

    Cindy at Notes in the Key of Life

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  2. Yes, it seems that he was. This bio is great so far.

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