The Bethel Confession, 75 years later

Written in August of 1933, the confession would turn out to be a failure, and, in comparison with present theological sensitivities, it was in many respects naive. Still, the Bethel Confession, for the effort and courage that it represents, remains a positive reminder that the church should be ever-conscious of destructive attitudes, prejudices, and practices.

"This was a period in German church history that for many religious leaders called for a confession of faith. For this reason, the Bethel Confession has a special significance in the history of the church struggle as that struggle pertained to one of the most important yet overlooked aspects of the turmoil: Christian solidarity with the Jewish people. The Bethel Confession is a landmark in this phase of the church struggle, not because of any success it had in sensitizing Christians to the evils of nazism but for the way it expresses new beginnings in the church’s attitude toward Jews" (TTF, 134).

On April 7, 1933, the passage of the Aryan Clause excluded Jews from civil service. This legislation, along with boycotts of Jewish-owned businesses, led Dietrich Bonhoeffer and a handful of others to respond in question and criticism of the increasingly visible phenomena of anti-Semitism.

"As the German Christians assumed more power in the church, the opposing pastors united more closely in the struggle for what they hoped would supersede that power, namely, truth and justice. It was a time begging for the confession of faith Bonhoeffer had urged in his sermon of July 23, 1933. Many confessions were, in fact, being formulated by ministers concerned about what was happening within their churches. But these were too scattered to be effective in arousing individual and community consciences. Bonhoeffer and Professor Herman Sasse of Erlangen were deputized by the Council of Young Reformers, therefore, to retreat to the community of Bethel, a Christian settlement grown out of a treatment center for epileptics, to produce a confession of faith that would challenge the German Christians. The aim was to compel the German Christians to declare their beliefs openly. They also wished to create a new creed to combat distortions in the church struggle. What they finally wrote [in August, 1933] was a solid, uncompromising, statement of the theological basis of the church struggle. It contained, moreover, a spirited defense of the Jews. Bonhoeffer and Sasse reiterated God’s choice of Israel in wholly theological terms and insisted that God had not retracted that choice...

"The Bethel Confession, despite its obvious shortcomings in properly assessing Judaism, is a clear repudiation of Aryanism and the Nazi attempt to rid nation and church of any Jewish presence. The confession was then circulated to some twenty theologians, who proceeded to whittle away at its call to uncompromising commitment in the struggle. Attempts were made to dilute criticism of the state in the document. For Bonhoeffer, the suggested corrections were an emasculation of the challenge he had incorporated as one of the central purposes of the confession. Disappointed, he refused to sign the final toothless copy" (TTF, 17).

"The church teaches that God chose Israel from among all the nations of the earth to be God’s people. God chose them solely in the power of God’s Word and for the sake of God’s loving- kindness, and not because they were in any way preeminent (Exod. 19:5-6; Deut. 7:7-11). The Sanhedrin and the Jewish people rejected Christ Jesus, promised by the law and the prophets, in accordance with Scripture. They wanted a national Messiah, who would bring them political freedom and the rule of the world. Jesus Christ was not this, and did not do this. He died at their hands and for their sakes. The barrier between Jew and Gentile has been broken down by the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Eph. 2)...

"We oppose the attempt to deprive the German Evangelical Church of its promise by the attempt to change it into a national church of Christians of Aryan descent. This would be to erect a racial barrier against entering the church and would make such a church itself a Jewish Christian community regulated by the Law" (NRS, 240-42).

TTF -- A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Ed. by Kelly and Nelson–Rev. ed. New York: Haper-Collins Publishers, 1995.

NRS -- No Rusty Swords: Letters, Lectures and Notes, 1928-1936. Ed. by Edwin H. Robertson. Trans. revised by John Bowden and Eberhard Bethge. London: Collins, 1970. Cleveland, OH: Collins-world, 1977.