PRESENTER: Should Bonhoeffer be regarded as a Protestant Saint?
ARCHBISHOP: What makes it an interesting question is that he himself says in one of his very last letters to survive, that he doesn’t want to be a saint; he wants to be a believer. In other words he doesn’t want to be some kind of, as he might put it, detached holy person. He wants to show what faith means in every day life. So I think in the wider sense, yes he’s a saint; he’s a person who seeks to lead an integrated life, loyal to God, showing God’s life in the world. A saint in the conventional sense? Well, he wouldn’t have wanted to be seen in that way.
—Archbishop Rowan Williams on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, speaking in 2006
I don’t like this part of the answer.
[blockquote] in the wider sense…[/blockquote]
Not that I am familiar with the criteria for sainthood (is that the “narrow” sense), nor am I thinking we should use so broad a “sense” as “I know one when I see one.” The question seems to revolve around “St.” Bonhoeffer’s role in the plot to kill Hitler. If support for violence is an absolute contraindication for sainthood, then we would not have St. Joan. So I think there is precedent for people of the sword to be called saints.
I agree. And, of course, there are others in the calendar of saints who bore the sword besides Joan of Arc.
It’s also notable that the group that conspired to assassinate Hitler spent something like two years debating whether or not it was morally permissible to do so. It was not done lightly. After all, consider some biblical stories where wicked leaders were assassinated, and the narrator plainly approves. Examples would include the “judge” Ehud in the Book of Judges. Even more striking would be the case of the bloody coup launched by Jehu, with the explicit support of the prophet Elisha, in 2 kings. Elisha commissions Jehu to slaughter the wicked Queen Jezebel, and sure enough, it happens, and the dogs lick up her blood… Gruesome stuff indeed.
I do regard Bonhoeffer as a martyr, and as a saint. But I have no idea if two accredited miracles have been certified to have taken place after prayers were made to him (ala the Roman fashion of determining sainthood). (grin)
David Handy+
I was under the impression, biblically speaking, that all believers are “saints”.
Creating a hierarchy of holiness is unhelpful, as I’m sure Bonhoeffer would agree.
Is from Oz (#3),
You are right, of course, that from the Pauline perspective all believers in Christ are “saints,” even in a church like that in Corinth that was so troubled and riddled with sin. I hasten to clarify that my rather flippant remark at the end of #2 was meant thoroughly tongue-in-cheek.
But what level of recognition and veneration to give great saints, in the common usage of the term, is a matter of dispute in Anglicanism, like so much else. I can’t speak for Bonhoeffer, but personally, I do find it helpful to honor outstanding men and women who exemplify heroic sanctity. It’s not that I pray to them, but that I draw inspiration from their example of godliness. And I don’t regard that as compromising the principles of the Reformation.
David Handy+
Is from Oz (#3) With God’s help of course…
“You can meet them in school, or
In lanes, or at sea,
In church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea,
For the saints of God are just folk like me,
And I mean to be one too.”