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5 Bonhoeffer and Public Ethics from the Perspective of Brazil Carlos Ribeiro Caldas, Filho What is the contribution of Bonhoeffer’s theology for a public theology in Brazil? What are the lessons the great Brazilian Christian church, Catholics and Protestants alike, must urgently learn from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology? I approach this question from my personal history. Thirty years ago, when I was a freshman in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Bonhoeffer’s book Discipulado (Discipleship) came into my hands and had a profound impact on me. After that I read eagerly all the Bonhoeffer books that had been translated into Portuguese at that time: Vida em comunhão (Life Together) Tentação (Temptation), Orando com os Salmos (The Prayerbook of the Bible) and Resistência e submissão (Letters and Papers from Prison. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology became very important in my personal theological formation, and I quoted it in a number of sermons and lectures over the years. Then, about twenty years ago, perhaps due to a kind of patriotic spirit, I also began to study Latin American theology, especially the Theology of Integral Mission. My dissertation was about the theology of contextual evangelization of Orlando Costas, the wellknown Puerto Rican theologian and missiologist. So, for some years my main intellectual-academic and theological-spiritual concern was the theology of integral mission as produced in the existential, historical, political, economic, cultural, religious Sitz im Leben of Latin America. Recently I began reading Bonhoeffer again, and started thinking about how to establish a relationship between Latin American theology and the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and published some essays about that. To speak about Bonhoeffer and public ethics in the particular context of Brazil, I will first comment on the relevance of his theology to the Brazilian Christian church as a whole. 39 The Importance of Confession All of us know that Bonhoeffer was from a Lutheran background. He received a solid formation in the Lutheran tradition. In his writings he never tried to hide his Lutheranism. From this point I conclude that in Brazil, Christians must learn from Bonhoeffer about the importance of knowing their own theological and confessional traditions. It is important always to have in mind that Christianity is much more than a rational credo that is known only theoretically. Bonhoeffer would be the very first to criticize such an understanding of Christianity. He gives us this imperishable lesson with the dramatic story of his life and death. Christianity is discipleship, the following of Jesus Christ. Christianity has to do not only with ideas, but with life, with flesh and blood. Nevertheless, as there are many different confessional traditions within the great Christian family, it is important that we know our own particular tradition. Bonhoeffer knew his tradition and, if he was not proud of it, neither was he ashamed of it. Thinking about the relationship Bonhoeffer had with his own confessional tradition leads me to conclude that those who study his theological legacy must learn to be better Reformed, Baptists, Pentecostals, Catholics, and so on. The knowledge of a given confessional Christian tradition must never be an end in itself. Rather, it is intended to be a way to make us aware of our particular denominational ethos, never forgetting that what really matters is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. This lesson has particular importance for the Brazilian context, where there are so many Christians who, consciously or not, have become more worshipers of their theological traditions than followers of Jesus Christ himself. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran, but he was wise enough to understand that the theologian must understand the historical context, and not only repeat what was said centuries earlier. In Bonhoeffer’s case, this was patently obvious, but in the Brazilian context many theologians simply do not see like this, and they limit themselves to repeating what the “divines” of old had said. The Ecumenicity of the Church The other side of the coin is that Bonhoeffer the confessional Lutheran Christian was at the same time wise enough to see the importance of the oecumene. He knew how to work with Christians of other traditions such as Anglicans and Reformed, to name only a few. Note that I described Bonhoeffer with the word “Christian,” not “Evangelical” or “Protestant.” This is intentional. I am absolutely convinced that Bonhoeffer has too much to offer to all traditions under the great umbrella of Christianity to limit him to only one. His relevance and appeal is as much...

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