Peccatorum Communio: Intercession in Bonhoeffer’s Use of Hegel

This essay challenges the portrayal of philosophical idealism as sinful ‘confinement in the self’, arguing that this obscures a relationship between Hegel and Bonhoeffer characterised by variation rather than contradiction. I first trace a limited congeniality between their respective critiques of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Robinson, David S. 1980- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2015
In: Studies in Christian ethics
Year: 2015, Volume: 28, Issue: 1, Pages: 86-100
IxTheo Classification:KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
NBE Anthropology
NBN Ecclesiology
Further subjects:B Christology
B Hegel
B Ecclesiology
B Bonhoeffer
B Sin
B Intercession
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This essay challenges the portrayal of philosophical idealism as sinful ‘confinement in the self’, arguing that this obscures a relationship between Hegel and Bonhoeffer characterised by variation rather than contradiction. I first trace a limited congeniality between their respective critiques of the ‘beautiful soul’ and the ‘privately virtuous’, showing how both thinkers resist moral isolation through the call to confession. Second, I follow their attempts to overcome an oppositional logic between such social exchange and divine agency, rooted in the syntax of Hegel’s phrase ‘God existing as community’. This provides sharper focus to Bonhoeffer’s variations, changing the subject from God to Christ and the attendant act from reciprocal confession to intercessory prayer. Rather than merely defensive revision, I argue that this reveals an agile Christology which can sustain an ethical posture of ‘being for others’ through the withheld confession and broken trust typical of a communion of sinners.
ISSN:0953-9468
Contains:Enthalten in: Studies in Christian ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0953946814555326