Metaxas like
many Evangelicals mistakenly believes the Obama era has placed American society
in a situation analogous to 1930's Germany and in many ways his book is meant
to provoke and inspire an Evangelical response to this perceived crisis. It's
no accident this work of hagiography lionizes and champions a theologian
involved in political resistance and an assassination plot. Metaxas can
maintain plausible deniability regarding his intention but the implicit
imperative is there.
Like most
Evangelicals Metaxas also demonstrates a woeful misunderstanding of the history
associated with the rise of the Third Reich and an even greater
misunderstanding of the various theological forces at work during the time and
which played a role in the shaping of Bonhoeffer.
Prior to the
Dominionist ascendance in American Evangelicalism during the Clinton years, the
name of Bonhoeffer was still frowned upon. His theology and even his actions
were viewed with great doubt. Metaxas doesn't understand that Neo-Orthodoxy
while supernaturalistic (as opposed to Liberalism) is still basically a form of
Theological Liberalism and a denial of historic Biblical Christianity. And
Bonhoeffer was right at the forefront of this movement and influenced it long
after his death.
Like all
Neo-Orthodox theologians he's confusing. I too read "The Cost of
Discipleship" almost twenty years ago and was affected by it. Nevertheless
the theological system of Bonhoeffer and his comrades while brilliant is in
fact deficient, unbiblical and in the end destructive.
I
appreciated the fact that the reviewers bring out the issues regarding pacifism
and Bonhoeffer's complex relationship with that concept. While I understand the
times drove men to desperation I cannot agree with the idea of Christian
participation in an assassination plot and again I recall reading many works
from the 60's, 70's and after that were critical of this aspect as well as his
theological framework as a whole.
Inspired by
Bonhoeffer's example, Metaxas and others wish to utilize the idea of Christian
action in the face of tyranny and I don't think it was an accident this book
was published at the height of the Anti-Obama hysteria.
What should
we as Christians do in the face of a Nazi-like tyranny? Though some dare to use
the example of the Ten Booms, the truth is the Ten Booms do not represent the
kind of action they would like to see. They followed God's commands, ignored the
sinful dictates of the Nazis, were willing to face the consequences and refused
to participate in violent underground actions. They rightly understood the ends
did not justify the means. Rather than trust in the arm of man's strength, they
rested in an active and trusting faith. They rejected violent action.
In this
country during the 1960's many Americans believed their nation was involved in
a Nazi-like nearly genocidal action in Indochina. By the time it was over
millions were dead. How did they react? Largely non-violent they protested and
willingly faced arrest. I am not suggesting that's the Christian action we
ought to take and obviously there were many aspects of the Anti-War movement
that were less than Christian.
Yet, there
was action, even if it largely failed to end in the war in a timely manner.
Just when they thought they had brought a change in the abdication of Lyndon
Johnson, the United States was already expanding the war into Cambodia and
within two years would invade the country.
Could
Biblical Christians have stopped the Nazi's? Of course not. Even the Anti-War
movement failed to stop Vietnam. Always a remnant, we never can or will wield
political power, nor is it our calling to do so. The apostate Lutheran Church
of Germany had indeed succumbed to Liberalism but long before that it had sold
its soul to Constantinian Statism and an association of German-ness with
Christianity. The Unification of Germany in 1871 only furthered this attitude.
The curse is Christianity wedded to Nationalism... the very thing Metaxas and
his faction promote.
It's no
accident nationalist Christians and especially Metaxas' mentor Colson were at
the forefront of the pro-Vietnam War faction. They were deliberately blind
regarding what was happening on the ground and willfully remain so to this day.
It's also no
accident the Christian Right through the auspices of such groups as The
Heritage Foundation has continued to promote military expansionism, religiously
rooted nationalism and the idea of the Unitary Executive. And when an
administration came along promoting a seemingly endless war and under the
auspices of the Unitary Executive suspended Constitutional rights and liberties
he was championed by these people as the great Christian leader they had been
looking for. I'm not sure we can even find irony in the fact they misinterpret
Fascism. We can be thankful the Bush-Cheney agenda has largely failed even
though they succeeded in creating an infrastructure the Gestapo would envy. The
geopolitical destabilization they generated has set the stage for a wider
circle of conflict we are only now beginning to see.
The Evangelical
Bonhoeffer apologists would do well to read Niemoller and learn why he as a
pastor initially supported Hitler and then turned away from him. Many Christian
leaders were more than happy to turn their backs on Weimar and Hitler's
opposition to Communism was also celebrated. The Nazis promoted traditional
German values. This is of course at odds with the narrative of the American
Right and its false and confused conflation of
Fascism with Communism.
Also they
would do well to look at the course of Niemoller's life and thought after the
war. They would be surprised to discover the resister of Nazism also turned
against the US empire during the 1960's. The same evil was operating under a
different form.
Driven by
their Dominionist narrative, Colson and now Metaxas continue to champion the
Constantinian vision. They have zealously promoted William Wilberforce who
admirably worked to end slavery but also laboured to bring about a
state-enforced moral regime in Britain and helped to lay the groundwork for the
reactionary period we call The Victorian Age. While many celebrate and
romanticize this period, it's one of intimidation, exploitation of the poor,
great hypocrisy, Imperial religion, censorship and suppression. It was also a
time of geopolitical theft and murder as the British Empire expanded beyond
imagination.
The arts
interestingly gave expression to the frustration and offered a poignant social
critique. Even this is misunderstood by most Christian audiences of our day. Many
works of subtle protest are celebrated as reflecting the glories of Christian society.
The Victorian Age sowed the seeds of its own destruction and brought about the
pendulum swing in the early twentieth century and ultimately the
self-destruction of the British Empire. And still the lessons are not learned
as British Evangelicals lament this course of events instead of celebrating
them.
Colson and
Metaxas wrongly interpret all of these events as they have demonstrated day
after day in their radio commentaries. They have sown great confusion in the
American Church over social history and how society is to be viewed. Their
rather muddled Dominionism has contributed to the great shift in the past
generation and the embrace of Roman Catholicism and the confusion of anything
Western with Christian.
While Barack
Obama is not a man to be admired, a Hitler he is not. In fact such a comparison
is comical if not absurd. With this notion is attached the further convoluted
grouping of ideas that the Nazis were somehow Leftist, pro-homosexual
environmentalists.
One only has
to listen to the average Evangelical radio show and its call in audience to
understand the state of ignorance in the American Church. While this sounds
pompous I mean it to be an indictment of the leadership of American
Christianity. They have much to answer for as their people bask and glory in their
ignorance and are therefore subject to great manipulation and consequently have
embraced lies and propaganda. Knowing little about the world beyond the
shopping mall or their smart phone, the average American Christian cannot
discern whether they are being spoon-fed deceit and it would seem that not a
few Evangelical leaders have been brainwashed into thinking the end justifies
the means and they have allowed themselves to play fast and loose with the
truth in order to attain political goals and power.
The fact
that Metaxas and his comrades equate Obama with Hitler and then in the form of
biography praise a Christian leader who participated in an assassination plot
is not a little disturbing. The fact that they've misinterpreted just about
everything associated with the past events and the present situation does not
in any way alleviate responsibility for what they are suggesting.
Slowly we
move toward violence and civil war and it is the Evangelical leadership who
bears a great deal of responsibility in this.
What is happening?
We live in a time when a book full of misinformation and distortion becomes a
best seller because it promotes a worldview and lessons that are desired. Itching
ears indeed. Not interested in honest assessment and reflection the Church
seems to willingly and with great zeal embrace lies and false teachers. We live
in interesting times. Those who have been asleep had better wake up.
I have
provided links to the 5-part critique of Metaxas and Bonhoeffer provided by The
Reformed Forum. I posted all the links because their website is miserable. Like
many others they have redesigned their site and while it tries to dazzle, in fact
it's become almost unusable and difficult to navigate.
I have also
included links to some other reviews that deal with the broader scope of
issues. The Reformed Forum reviews stick closely to the
theological-philosophical milieu and decently contextualizes Bonhoeffer's
thought. I'm not sure Neo-Orthodox readers would quite agree with everything
Stivason has suggested but it's a starting point and regardless of the finer
points concerning Kant and his influence on theology, it demonstrates clearly
that Metaxas is completely off base.
Bonhoeffer's
story is a sad one. The whole period is an age of trial and tears. He was an
interesting man and worth looking into but he was not a Bible-Believing
Evangelical, if a Christian at all, and neither he nor his actions are to be
celebrated. The difficulty of the times makes it hard to judge individual
actions and while we can sympathize with those who felt the need to act, it
does not mean they were always right. He died as part of the resistance against
Hitler but it does not follow that he is therefore to be reckoned a Christian
martyr.