Bonhoeffer provokes new politics and faith debate in Australia

-12/10/06

By Doug H


Bonhoeffer provokes new politics and faith debate in Australia

-12/10/06

By Doug Hynd

A paper by a shadow government minister at an academic conference to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, published recently in a leading Australian journal, The Monthly, has sparked a further instalment in an ongoing debate on the role of Christian faith and the churches in Australian policy debates.

Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran theologian, philosopher and pastor who became famous for his resistance to the Nazis, and who was executed in Flossenburg concentration camp a short while before the Second World War ended.

He has been a towering figure in modern theology and European intellectual life, combining a biblical emphasis on discipleship, ethics and Jesusí Sermon on the Mount with a questioning approach to the role of the church and belief in the contemporary era.

The paper, ìFaith in Politicsî, by Kevin Rudd, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, and regularly mentioned as a possible future leader of the Australian Labor Party, explores the legacy of Bonhoeffer as the basis for a Christian response to a range of current political issues. Rudd then goes on to provide a clear account of Bonhoefferís views on how the church should engage in the political process. According to Rudd, Bonhoefferís theology was that Christian ethics was a dead letter unless translated into concrete social action on behalf of the poor, the marginalised and the oppressed.

Sixty years after his execution, Bonhoeffer’s gospel of social justice still speaks to us. Regrettably, much of this social justice tradition of Christianity has been drowned out by a new brand of political Christianity which is being systematically exploited in Republican America and John Howard’s Australia. It is a brand of Christianity that celebrates private morality and personal prosperity alone – to the virtual exclusion of equity, solidarity and compassion. It is also a brand of Christianity that carries with it the below-the-radar message that the Liberal Party is the natural party of God.

In his paper, Rudd draws out what he understand to be the implications of Bonhoefferís legacy for a variety of issues including the environment, global poverty, environmental issues, asylum seekers and militant Islam. He draws heavily upon two principles: Bonhoefferís concern that the church should speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, and the question of speaking the truth – drawing attention at this point to the discussion by US theologian Stanley Hauerwas on the importance of truth in politics.

While Bonhoeffer is never far from view, in his discussion Rudd takes the opportunity to comment on the appropriate relationship of church and state. His position is that, in contrast to Britain, Australia’s founding fathers chose to separate church and state constitutionally by not establishing any religion or denomination. Given the history of the European wars of religion, they were absolutely right to create a polity where all views are to be distilled and determined through democratic electoral processes. Rudd is arguing for an arrangement that is both secular and pluralist, with the emphasis on the two elements in equal balance.

Rudd is clear that Christians are as personally entitled as anybody else to advance their views to the secular forum that is Parliament. His concern, which has provoked this paper after a long period of being reticent to engage in this debate, is that in recent years Australians have only been hearing one set of Christian views on politics – and that has been an overwhelmingly conservative one. He argues that the answer to this does not lie in a greater Christian voice in politics. It lies in a different Christian voice in politics.

He notes that for 115 years the Australian Labor party has been a broad church made up of Irish Catholics, English Methodists and the occasional Christian Socialist, as well as the great tradition of non-religious humanism. He says that where these traditions meet is in a secular consensus on the overriding importance of social justice.

In a largely nuanced and evenly tempered paper a moment of political passion emerges when Rudd states that:

Our common enemy is the political project of John Howard which seeks to reconstruct Australian society in the image of his particular set of neo-liberal values. Howard’s vision for Australia is Frederich Hayek’s rampant individualism where unfettered free markets determine the value of not only every commodity but of every person and institution. Remember Margaret Thatcher’s chilling declaration: “There is no such thing as society.” Within this world view, Christianity is an entirely privatised
affair in which I have absolutely zero social responsibility for the material wellbeing of my neighbour.

Rudd denies that this means that the church and Christians more generally should by
definition support Labor. He returns to Bonhoeffer and argues that the church needs to retain its own independence from the political process.

Christians should adopt an ethically informed and rationally engaged critique of all political parties and all politicians. Bonhoeffer argued that the function of the church, within a constant ethical framework, is fearlessly to speak the truth to the state, however politically uncomfortable that may make the state feel on any given day.

In an early response to Ruddís paper, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen commented that:

“We now require a vigorous, thoughtful and well-informed response from someone in the Liberal Party to show how it is that the sort of individualism and freedom espoused by that side of politics is consistent with the great biblical summons to love our neighbour, Ö This would be a far more engrossing and worthwhile discussion than the vapid meanderings about Australian values to which we have been subjected lately by the media. Ö And, as Rudd makes clear, this has a great deal to do with the practical politics of such things as industrial relations reforms, the use of our weekends and the obligation laid on us by the Bible to be a generous nation and to steward creation.”

The Archbishop of Sydney, a forthright conservative evangelical, in his response to a social critique that displays a genuine admiration for and theological awareness of Bonhoefferís heritage, has put the ìconservativeî side of Australian politics on notice that his constituency is not totally comfortable with appeals for Christian endorsement by Prime Minister Howardís government.

Doug Hynd is a public servant and also lectures at St Markís National Theological Centre. He is President of the Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ), signatory to a radical biblical statement on Christian confession in today’s world, and contributes regularly to Ekklesia.

[Also on Ekklesia: Bonhoeffer Agent of Grace – DVD; Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King: Speaking Truth to Power ó J Deotis Roberts; Performing the Faith: Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Nonviolence – Stanley Hauerwas; Ethics: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 6; Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography by Eberhard Bethge; Death of anti-Nazi pastor seen as a sign of hope for justice; The Cambridge Companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Discipleship: Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Bonhoeffer – Stephen Plant; The Bonhoeffer Legacy: Post-Holocaust Perspectives; Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas by Dietrich Bonhoeffer]


Bonhoeffer provokes new politics and faith debate in Australia

-12/10/06

By Doug Hynd

A paper by a shadow government minister at an academic conference to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, published recently in a leading Australian journal, The Monthly, has sparked a further instalment in an ongoing debate on the role of Christian faith and the churches in Australian policy debates.

Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran theologian, philosopher and pastor who became famous for his resistance to the Nazis, and who was executed in Flossenburg concentration camp a short while before the Second World War ended.

He has been a towering figure in modern theology and European intellectual life, combining a biblical emphasis on discipleship, ethics and Jesusí Sermon on the Mount with a questioning approach to the role of the church and belief in the contemporary era.

The paper, ìFaith in Politicsî, by Kevin Rudd, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, and regularly mentioned as a possible future leader of the Australian Labor Party, explores the legacy of Bonhoeffer as the basis for a Christian response to a range of current political issues. Rudd then goes on to provide a clear account of Bonhoefferís views on how the church should engage in the political process. According to Rudd, Bonhoefferís theology was that Christian ethics was a dead letter unless translated into concrete social action on behalf of the poor, the marginalised and the oppressed.

Sixty years after his execution, Bonhoeffer’s gospel of social justice still speaks to us. Regrettably, much of this social justice tradition of Christianity has been drowned out by a new brand of political Christianity which is being systematically exploited in Republican America and John Howard’s Australia. It is a brand of Christianity that celebrates private morality and personal prosperity alone – to the virtual exclusion of equity, solidarity and compassion. It is also a brand of Christianity that carries with it the below-the-radar message that the Liberal Party is the natural party of God.

In his paper, Rudd draws out what he understand to be the implications of Bonhoefferís legacy for a variety of issues including the environment, global poverty, environmental issues, asylum seekers and militant Islam. He draws heavily upon two principles: Bonhoefferís concern that the church should speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, and the question of speaking the truth – drawing attention at this point to the discussion by US theologian Stanley Hauerwas on the importance of truth in politics.

While Bonhoeffer is never far from view, in his discussion Rudd takes the opportunity to comment on the appropriate relationship of church and state. His position is that, in contrast to Britain, Australia’s founding fathers chose to separate church and state constitutionally by not establishing any religion or denomination. Given the history of the European wars of religion, they were absolutely right to create a polity where all views are to be distilled and determined through democratic electoral processes. Rudd is arguing for an arrangement that is both secular and pluralist, with the emphasis on the two elements in equal balance.

Rudd is clear that Christians are as personally entitled as anybody else to advance their views to the secular forum that is Parliament. His concern, which has provoked this paper after a long period of being reticent to engage in this debate, is that in recent years Australians have only been hearing one set of Christian views on politics – and that has been an overwhelmingly conservative one. He argues that the answer to this does not lie in a greater Christian voice in politics. It lies in a different Christian voice in politics.

He notes that for 115 years the Australian Labor party has been a broad church made up of Irish Catholics, English Methodists and the occasional Christian Socialist, as well as the great tradition of non-religious humanism. He says that where these traditions meet is in a secular consensus on the overriding importance of social justice.

In a largely nuanced and evenly tempered paper a moment of political passion emerges when Rudd states that:

Our common enemy is the political project of John Howard which seeks to reconstruct Australian society in the image of his particular set of neo-liberal values. Howard’s vision for Australia is Frederich Hayek’s rampant individualism where unfettered free markets determine the value of not only every commodity but of every person and institution. Remember Margaret Thatcher’s chilling declaration: “There is no such thing as society.” Within this world view, Christianity is an entirely privatised
affair in which I have absolutely zero social responsibility for the material wellbeing of my neighbour.

Rudd denies that this means that the church and Christians more generally should by
definition support Labor. He returns to Bonhoeffer and argues that the church needs to retain its own independence from the political process.

Christians should adopt an ethically informed and rationally engaged critique of all political parties and all politicians. Bonhoeffer argued that the function of the church, within a constant ethical framework, is fearlessly to speak the truth to the state, however politically uncomfortable that may make the state feel on any given day.

In an early response to Ruddís paper, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen commented that:

“We now require a vigorous, thoughtful and well-informed response from someone in the Liberal Party to show how it is that the sort of individualism and freedom espoused by that side of politics is consistent with the great biblical summons to love our neighbour, Ö This would be a far more engrossing and worthwhile discussion than the vapid meanderings about Australian values to which we have been subjected lately by the media. Ö And, as Rudd makes clear, this has a great deal to do with the practical politics of such things as industrial relations reforms, the use of our weekends and the obligation laid on us by the Bible to be a generous nation and to steward creation.”

The Archbishop of Sydney, a forthright conservative evangelical, in his response to a social critique that displays a genuine admiration for and theological awareness of Bonhoefferís heritage, has put the ìconservativeî side of Australian politics on notice that his constituency is not totally comfortable with appeals for Christian endorsement by Prime Minister Howardís government.

Doug Hynd is a public servant and also lectures at St Markís National Theological Centre. He is President of the Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ), signatory to a radical biblical statement on Christian confession in today’s world, and contributes regularly to Ekklesia.

[Also on Ekklesia: Bonhoeffer Agent of Grace – DVD; Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King: Speaking Truth to Power ó J Deotis Roberts; Performing the Faith: Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Nonviolence – Stanley Hauerwas; Ethics: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 6; Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography by Eberhard Bethge; Death of anti-Nazi pastor seen as a sign of hope for justice; The Cambridge Companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Discipleship: Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Bonhoeffer – Stephen Plant; The Bonhoeffer Legacy: Post-Holocaust Perspectives; Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas by Dietrich Bonhoeffer]