The Limits of Bonhoefferian Responsibility: On Jean Bethke Elshtain's (Mis)Use of Bonhoeffer
Jean Elshtain claims that her defense of torture draws from the Christian tradition. To defend this claim, she makes direct appeal to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Her defense of torture has taken on greater political significance today. This article will refute Elshtain's claim to Bonhoeffer. To do so,...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
[2019]
|
| In: |
Political theology
Year: 2019, Volume: 20, Issue: 3, Pages: 262-279 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Elshtain, Jean Bethke 1941-2013
/ Bonhoeffer, Dietrich 1906-1945
/ Torture
|
| IxTheo Classification: | KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history NCB Personal ethics |
| Further subjects: | B
Extraordinary
B Dietrich Bonhoeffer B Torture B Relationality B Responsibility B Jean Elshtain |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | Jean Elshtain claims that her defense of torture draws from the Christian tradition. To defend this claim, she makes direct appeal to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Her defense of torture has taken on greater political significance today. This article will refute Elshtain's claim to Bonhoeffer. To do so, this article will first point to Bonhoeffer's explicit rejection of torture in Ethics, then argue that Bonhoeffer's rejection of torture draws from themes initiated in Creation and Fall. Placing Bonhoeffer in conversation with David Decosimo will show that Bonhoeffer holds a distinction between relation-ending and relation-perverting acts. Responsible actors may be called to perform the former class of actions, like tyrannicide, in extraordinary situations. However, the latter class of actions, like torture or rape, constitutes a limit to responsible action that we find no evidence Bonhoeffer is willing to cross. Elshtain, and others who wish to provide "Christian" defenses of torture, must look elsewhere. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1743-1719 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Political theology
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2019.1565376 |