Friends with a Mandate: Friendship and Family in Bonhoeffer’s Ecclesiology

Several social and cultural developments have led to a rethinking of the place and meaning of friendship within the life of the Church, not least its relation to family (and marriage). Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology has great potential for informing such renewed reflection. At face value, he appears...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in Christian ethics
Main Author: Graaff, Guido de 1979- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage [2017]
In: Studies in Christian ethics
IxTheo Classification:KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
NBN Ecclesiology
NCA Ethics
Further subjects:B Vicarious role
B Friendship
B Church
B Bonhoeffer
B Ecclesiology
B Family
B VICARIOUS atonement (Theology)
B Families
B mandates
B Social Development
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:Several social and cultural developments have led to a rethinking of the place and meaning of friendship within the life of the Church, not least its relation to family (and marriage). Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology has great potential for informing such renewed reflection. At face value, he appears to count both Church and family among the divine ‘mandates’, leaving friendship to a realm of ‘freedom’ outside the mandates. Yet closer reading of his writings—not least his correspondence with Bethge—reveals, first, a more singular role of the Church vis-à-vis the mandates (including family); and secondly, congeniality between friendship and the ‘vicarious representative’ practices that lie at the heart of Bonhoeffer’s ecclesiology. Together, these findings allow us to recognise family and friendship as complementary expressions of discipleship, each supporting the other precisely by setting a limit to the specific type of ‘vicarious representative’ responsibility entrusted to each.
ISSN:0953-9468
Contains:Enthalten in: Studies in Christian ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0953946817693586