Summary
Susan Hayward outlines the thorny choice that Dietrich Bonhoeffer – and others – have faced.
Transcript
There are times in Christian history where people of good faith have determined that an act of violence was necessary because the situation was so egregious. So an example here would be Dietrich Bonhoeffer during the midst of World War II, where in Germany he, along with other members of the Confessing Church, organised and designed an initiative to try to assassinate Adolf Hitler – saying that this was a legitimate, targeted use of force in order to address an injustice. Ultimately he failed in that attempt, and it’s contested by Christians on whether, at the end of the day, that use of violence was legitimate from a Christian perspective – on what Jesus would say in response to that. But certainly, as a person of morality and a person of faith, you can understand that impulse.
