Bonhoeffer Bible Study Guide: The Life and Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
By Eric Metaxas
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About this ebook
In this four-session video-based small group Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately), New York Times best-selling author Eric Metaxas will help you discover the major themes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writing and speaking and how he not only helped transform an entire faith community in Germany during World War II, but how his beliefs continue to impact the Christian faith of people throughout the world today.
Filmed on location in Germany, Metaxas will take you on a religious journey of Bonhoeffer’s faith and why it has captured so many people’s imaginations and how it has inspired the Christian faith of so many today. Pulling themes from all of his major books, Metaxas helps us understand why these spiritual truths meant so much to Bonhoeffer and how they can be an inspiration and challenge to our faith.
This study guide will lead you and your group deeper with session-by-session discussion topics, personal reflection, and between-session studies to enhance the group experience.
Sessions include:
- What is the Church?
- Living in Christian Community
- Religionless Christianity
- Come and Die
Designed for use with the Bonhoeffer Video Guide (sold separately).
Eric Metaxas
Eric Metaxas is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther, If You Can Keep It, Miracles, Seven Women, Seven Men, and Amazing Grace. His books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the New Yorker, and Metaxas has appeared as a cultural commentator on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. He is the host of The Eric Metaxas Radio Show, a daily nationally syndicated show aired in 120 U.S. cities and on TBN. Metaxas is also the founder of Socrates in the City, the acclaimed series of conversations on “life, God, and other small topics,” featuring Malcolm Gladwell, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, Baroness Caroline Cox, and Dick Cavett, among many others. He is a senior fellow and lecturer at large at the King’s College in Manhattan, where he lives with his wife and daughter.
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Bonhoeffer Bible Study Guide - Eric Metaxas
Also by Eric Metaxas
Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
Seven Men
978159555589_0003_001.jpg© 2014 Eric Metaxas
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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Cover design: Kristen Vasgaard
Cover photo: ©Art Resource, NY
Interior design: Matthew Van Zomeren
ISBN 978-1-59555-588-5
ISBN 978-1-59555-589-2 (eBook)
Printed in the United States of America
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CONTENTS
How to Use This Guide
SESSION 1
WHAT IS THE CHURCH?
SESSION 2
LIVING IN CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
SESSION 3
RELIGIONLESS CHRISTIANITY
SESSION 4
COME AND DIE
Notes
About the Author
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
Group Size
The Bonhoeffer video study is designed to be experienced in a group setting such as a Bible study, Sunday school class, or any small group gathering. To ensure everyone has enough time to participate in discussions, it is recommended that large groups break up into smaller groups of four to six people each.
Materials Needed
Each participant should have his or her own study guide, which includes notes for video segments, directions for activities and discussion questions, as well as personal studies to deepen learning between sessions.
Timing
The time notations — for example (20 minutes) — indicate the actual time of video segments and the suggested times for each activity or discussion. For example:
im1 Individual Activity: What I Want to Remember (2 minutes)
Adhering to the suggested times will enable you to complete each session in 90 minutes. If you have only one hour for your meeting, you will need to use fewer questions for discussion. You may also opt to devote two meetings rather than one to each session. In addition to allowing discussions to be more spacious, this has the added advantage of allowing group members to read related chapters in the Bonhoeffer book and to complete the personal study between meetings. In the second meeting, devote the time allotted for watching the video to discussing group members’ insights and questions from their reading and personal study.
Group Practice
Each session ends with a suggested application activity for group members to complete together between sessions. Although the activity is completed outside of the group meeting, it’s a good idea to look over the group practice before concluding the meeting to clarify any questions and to make sure everyone is on board.
Facilitation
Each group should appoint a facilitator who is responsible for starting the video and for keeping track of time during discussions and activities. Facilitators may also read questions aloud and monitor discussions, prompting participants to respond and ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to participate.
Personal Studies
Maximize the impact of the curriculum with additional study between group sessions. Every personal study includes reflection questions on Bonhoeffer’s life and teaching as well as a Bible study and a guided prayer activity. You’ll get the most out of the study by setting aside about thirty minutes between sessions for personal study, as well as additional time to complete the group practice activities.
im2 SESSION 1
WHAT IS THE CHURCH?
The movement upward [toward God] cannot be separated from the movement toward our neighbor. Both belong indissolubly together . . . Standing under God’s rule means living in community with God and with the church.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER, SANCTORUM COMMUNIO
im1 Welcome!
Welcome to Session 1 of Bonhoeffer. Each of the four sessions in this study is designed to be completed in 90 minutes. If you have only one hour for your meeting, you will need to choose fewer questions for your discussion. Your may also opt to devote two meetings rather than one to each session.
If this is your first time together as a group, take a moment to introduce yourselves to each other before watching the video. Then let’s begin!
im1 Watch Video: What Is the Church? (20 minutes)
Play the video segment for Session 1. As you watch, use the outline provided to follow along or to take additional notes on anything that stands out to you.
NOTES
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor and a theologian. He had a passion for truth and a commitment to justice on behalf of those who face implacable evil.
Bonhoeffer was a member of the Igel (pronounced eagle
) fraternity at Tübingen University in 1923. Igel is the