Eberhard Bethge

Eberhard Bethge (August 29 1909-March 18 2000) was the friend and brother-in-law to famed theologican and martyr to the Nazis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bethge himself was a fellow resister of the Nazis, editor, and biographer of the great theologian.

Related Topics:
August 29 - 1909 - March 18 - 2000 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Nazis

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Bethge was born in Warchau, near Magdeburg, on August 29 1909. He attended several universities, receiving a Doctor of Divinity degree, before attending the secret Finkenwalde Seminary where Bonhoeffer taught the doctrines of Germany's Confessing Church (part of the anti-Nazi resistance). He became Bonhoeffer's close friend and confidant, and he also married Bonhoeffer's niece, Renate.

Related Topics:
Magdeburg - August 29 - 1909 - Finkenwalde - Confessing Church

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Though a member of the Resistance, Bethge was drafted to serve in the German army during World War II. He was later arrested, along with dozens of other resisters, after the failed attempt to kill Adolf Hitler on July 20 1944. After the war he spent several years as pastor for the same German-speaking congregation in England that Bonhoeffer had served in 1933-35. He also held various academic posts and lectureships, including stints at Harvard Divinity School, Chicago Theological Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary in New York. He continued to give lectures until a year before his death in 2000.

Related Topics:
Resistance - World War II - Adolf Hitler - July 20 - 1944 - England - Harvard Divinity School - Chicago Theological Seminary - Union Theological Seminary - New York

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Bethge is best known as the author of the definitive biography, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Man of Vision, Man of Courage. (A new English-language version, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography, was released in Februrary 2000, edited by Victoria J. Barnett, with corrections of some translation errors, as well as some added material from the German edition -- most notably on Bonhoeffer's childhood -- that had never appeared in English.) Bethge also collected and edited Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison (most of the which were addressed to him), as well as the unfinished effort Bonhoeffer considered his main life's work, Ethics. In 1995, Bethge edited Friendship and Resistance: Essays on Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

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In 1991 Bethge wrote an article for Christian History titled "My Friend Dietrich." Reflecting on his former companion's work, he admitted that "the language, concepts, and thought paradigms of this man are a half century old and older. ? We find in him no answers to many of our most pressing questions."

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Bethge was survived by his wife, Renate (Dietrich Bonhoeffer's niece), as well as by a son and two daughters.

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