42 dialog: A Journal of Theology • Volume 41, Number 1 • Spring 2002

Probing the Will of God:

Bonhoeffer and Discernment
Lisa E. Dahill

Abstract: Like the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, the spiritual discernment of Dietrich Bonhoeffer seeks
to bring one’s life into conformity (Gleichgestaltung) with Christ. Such conformation makes discipleship
costly; but it also overflows with the fullness of life.
Key Terms: Bonhoeffer; discernment; discipleship.

Today, as I begin writing this article, is the feast cernment of the “for me” or “for us” central also to
day of St. Ignatius, July 31. As a Lutheran, I might Lutheran experience, or that which brings religious
have overlooked this feast (it’s not in the LBWcalen­ truths (Word of God) to life in particular personal or
dar), but a Jesuit friend reminds me of the day and historical circumstances (Word of God pro me, pro
celebrates it with Christians around the world in honor nobis). Martin Luther thus distinguished the Bible as
of the 16th century Spaniard. Among other things, text, full of historical and theological assertions, from
Ignatius of Loyola was an extraordinarily gifted spiri­ the living Word of God encountering the hearer or
tual director whose sensitivity to the movements of reader through that text.3 “God must say to you in
the human and divine spirit bears continuing fruit in your heart that this Word is God’s Word, otherwise it
the Spiritual Exercises he developed, still in widespread is uncertain. Even if you had all the wisdom of the
use today.1 In these Exercises Ignatius provides a dy­ whole of Scripture, and all reason, yet if what is said
namic framework for the spiritual director guiding here did not come or was not sent from God it would
directees in a 30-day retreat. This structured retreat is be nothing at all.”4 The task of interpretation, then, is
centered in the movement through the paschal expe­ to discern that living Word, by the power of the Holy
rience of Jesus Christ and in the directees discern­ Spirit, for new listeners and contexts. In more recent
ment of his or her own authentic vocation in response years, Dietrich Bonhoeffer similarly sought to discern
to the love and gifts of Christ. Although Ignatius him­ the pro me/pro nobis of faith: the question that haunted
self would not have used this language in this way, his him at the end of his life, writing from his Nazi prison
Exercises provide a creative, powerful tool bridging for cell, was not so much, “Who is Jesus Christ?” (a reli­
retreatants the gap between religion and spirituality. gious question) as “Who is Jesus Christ for us todayr”5
In other words, Ignatius structures the resources of Yet for all the contemporary insistence in many
the religion—the vast and potentially remote-seeming quarters that religion is outdated and spirituality alone
biblical, liturgical, moral, theological, and devotional worth our attention, note that in fact none of these
traditions of the church—in such a way as to allow spiritualities—Ignatius’, Luther’s, or Bonhoeffer’s—
them to come to life in the prayerful personal experi­ makes any sense on its own, without the religion it
ence of the retreatants, that is, in their spirituality.2 animates. Without the biblical and traditional imag­
At the heart of this mediating role is the Exercises’ ery that both frames and is the very stuff of the Exer­
centering in the practice of discernment. That is, what cises, there can be no living encounter with the cruci­
mediates between religion and spirituality is the dis­ fied and risen One. Without the Scriptures themselves,

Lisa E. Dahill is a researcher at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Menlo Park, California, and an adjunct
professor at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley.
 Probing the Will of God: Bo nho offer and Discernment • Lisa E. Dahill 43

and the church’s long history of engagement with them cantly of all, Bonhoeffer models a Christian life cen­
as living Word, there can be no verbum pro me. And tered in ongoing, clear-sighted discernment in the
without the person of Jesus Christ encountered in midst of complex and ambiguous historical circum­
Word and sacrament and centuries of prayer and stances. His witness therefore demonstrates the tre­
christological reflection, there can be no way of dis­ mendous power for good which can flow through a
cerning who Christ is for us today, let alone being life well skilled in Christian discernment—as well as
united to his death and resurrection and drawn ever the risky courage in faithfulness into which its sus­
more fully into living relationship with him. In the tained practice draws a person.
apt metaphor developed by Sandra Schneiders to illu­ In sketching Bonhoeffer’s approach to discernment,
mine this question, the relation between religion and I will begin with the fundamental anchor of his theol­
spirituality is analogous to that between body and ogy and spirituality, namely the role and place of Jesus
spirit: neither can exist, let alone work and play and Christ as the reality of all that is, in all particularity
love in the world, apart from the other.6 We need both and concreteness. Next I will look at some of the ways
for a living church: I am asserting that what makes Bonhoeffer speaks explicitly about the discernment of
creative and mutually nourishing relationship possible this reality that is Jesus Christ, and how this discerned
between religion and spirituality is specifically the reality takes shape in Christian lives. Finally, I will
practice of discernment. conclude with the suggestion of a distinctively
“Bonhoefferean” contribution to the Christian language
Discernment in Bonhoeffer and imagery of discernment.

The Reality of God;

In this article I will provide a brief overview of dis­ The Reality of the World
cernment in the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as a
recent thinker whose contributions in this area are
important for our time. I believe that a large measure In Bonhoeffer’s Ethics, he posits Christ as the real­
of the alienation some people experience from the ity of both God and the world, the one in whom both
church, fueling a search for alternative “spiritualities,” God and world are truly known. Notions of the world
derives from their never having been taught the art of or of God which attempt to consider these in separa­
discernment, i.e., how to read and explore and mine tion from one another, without taking full account of
their religious tradition with an ear open for where the other and of their union in Christ, are “abstrac­
the Spirit is moving for them through these riches. tions.”9 And the only truly “concrete” or accurate grasp
Quite a range of approaches to discernment has of reality is that which begins with Jesus Christ, who
developed within Christianity, from the Ignatian reveals both the heart of God’s redemptive desire and
branch of Roman Catholicism to the clearness com­ the stark and beautiful reality of the divinely encom­
mittees of the Quaker tradition.7 In contrast to these passed world just as it is:
comprehensive resources, developed and refined over
time, Bonhoeffer’s explicit focus on discernment In Christ we are offered the possibility of par­
emerged only late in his writings, and he never had a taking in the reality of God and in the reality
chance to reflect systematically on the significance or of the world, but not in the one without the
practice of discernment for his spirituality. Neverthe­ other. The reality of God discloses itself only
less a careful look at his writings reveals important by setting me entirely in the reality of the
resources on several levels for a contemporary and dis­ world, and when I encounter the reality of the
world it is always already sustained, accepted,
tinctively Lutheran approach to discernment, an ap­
and reconciled in the reality of God. ... [The
proach which can perhaps assist Christians today in
purpose of Christian life] is, therefore, par­
their attempts to trace living spiritual meaning within
ticipation in the reality of God and of the world
their own religious traditions.8 Perhaps most signifi­ in Jesus Christ today, and this participation
44 dialog: A Journal of Theology • Volume 41, Number 1 • Spring 2002

must be such that I never experience the real­ Because the will of God, or the “good,” thus can­
ity of God without the reality of the world, or not ever be defined in advance by means of general
the reality of the world without the reality of theological, ethical, or spiritual principles, Bonhoeffer’s
God.10 lifelong emphasis on concreteness necessarily fosters a
spirituality radically dependent on discernment, prac­
In Christ one need not flee the reality of either God or ticed anew in every new situation. This is implicit
the world but can truly perceive both only in their throughout his life but becomes much more explicit
necessary and inseparable interconnection. This clar­ in the years he spends in the conspiracy against Hitler,
ity of vision gives rise to capacities for compassion, for where a reliance upon mature discernment makes pos­
embrace of the real, and for responsible action in the sible ventures of public responsibility which would
world grounded in a lucid perception of what is. Thus have seemed incredible to him in earlier years of his
Bonhoeffer names “correspondence with reality” as one life. In his primary explication of discernment, which
of the touchstones of responsible ethical action.11 Be­ he terms Priifung (that is, “probing” or “examining”
cause of Jesus Christ, Christians need not fear reality of the will of God), he writes in his Ethics,
but in their movement deeper into Christ are invited
ever more deeply into all that is: God and world, one The will of God is not a system of rules which
reality.12 is established from the outset; it is something
new and different in each different situation
Concrete Spirituality in life. ... The heart, the understanding, ob­
servation, and experience must all collaborate
in this task. ... our knowledge of Gods will is
not something over which we ourselves dis­
Thus an authentically Christian spirituality, for pose, but it depends solely on the grace of
Bonhoeffer, is necessarily highly concrete. The inter­ God, and this grace is and requires to be new
connections between God and world which for him every morning. That is why this matter of prob­
define “concreteness” are manifested always and only ing ... the will of God is so serious a matter.15
in the particular. Already in his dissertation,
Bonhoeffer’s critique of German idealism was rooted Involving focused attention on one’s diverse intel­
in just such a focus on the particular over against any lectual, emotional, and spiritual intuitions as these
sorts of universal principles. And this suspicion of ab­ “collaborate” in the prayerful sifting of experience and
stract truths and generalizations continues to charac­ observation, discernment clearly requires a high de­
terize his thinking throughout his life.13 For gree of self-awareness as well as the simultaneous ca­
Bonhoeffer, what is most real is what is most particu­ pacity for attunement to the fluid, shifting movements
lar—a given person, or situation, or context—precisely of the grace of God. Because discernment means accu­
in its uniqueness, not only its continuity with or rate perception of reality, it is inextricably tied to the
“generalizability” from other persons, situations, or One who for Bonhoeffer is the reality of both God and
contexts. And thus for him the will of God as well is the world, namely Jesus Christ. Ultimately then Chris­
highly concrete, reflecting the well-discerned and in­ tian discernment means learning to perceive the real
separable realities of God and world as those converge as that which is revealed by and in Jesus, and as his call
in highly particular, never predictable ways in any opens to us our particular vocation in every new day,
given circumstance, for any given person or commu­ every new concrete situation. “Only upon the foun­
nity. In order to gain a true understanding of reality, dation of Jesus Christ, only within the space which is
i.e., of Jesus Christ as he truly is, one must be open to defined by Jesus Christ, only ‘in’ Jesus Christ can one
perceiving the world itself as it truly is in all its alterity, probe what the will of God is.”16 Probing the will and
and must respect its diversity and otherness on its own vocation of God requires Christians to live as fully as
terms from the outset.14 possible within reality, i.e., in Jesus Christ.
 Probing the Will of God: Bo nho offer and Discernment • Lisa E. Dahill 45

Spiritual Disciplines can be a daunting process indeed; this is why faith­

fully practiced spiritual disciplines of attentive listen­
ing to the Word are so essential.
This means that an important aspect of the prac­
tice of discernment for Bonhoeffer is what we today Give Up on Being Good
often refer to as spiritual disciplines, namely sustained
and extended meditation on the Word; prayer and
intercession; mutual confession, spiritual direction, and A potential obstacle, indeed one of the greatest and
the Lord’s Supper.17 All these practices form us over most insidious forms of distraction from the living
time in learning to live in this space Christ creates for presence and discerned call of Jesus Christ is, for
us: to pay attention to where and how he reveals him­ Bonhoeffer, the tendency of religious people in par­
self to us, to learn to distinguish his voice from others’ ticular to think in terms of their own judgments of
voices and remain within earshot, to turn toward him “good” and “evil.” From his 1933 lectures on Creation
and not be distracted by competing demands, etc. In and Fall through his Ethics, he over and over insists on
Discipleship, Bonhoeffer outlined the contours and the inapplicability for the Christian life of such cat­
implications of such a radical spiritual orientation to egories of evaluation. In fact, the very first lines of his
Jesus Christ. The center of discipleship for him is Ethics center precisely here:
Bindung an Jesus, i.e., “attachment to Jesus,” a life
spent growing in the perceived clarity of Jesus’ call, Those who wish to take up the problem of a
gaze, and touch. Listening for his voice, keeping our Christian ethic must be confronted at once
eyes centered on him, staying in touch with him—this with a demand which is quite without paral­
is Bindung an Jesus, a relationship of tremendous inti­ lel. They must from the outset discard as ir­
relevant the two questions which alone impel
macy sustained by love. Bonhoeffer states repeatedly
them to concern themselves with the problem
that there is no “program” or agenda apart from this:
of ethics, ‘How can I be good?’ and ‘How can
the only call of the disciple is proximity to Jesus, to I do good?,’ and instead of these they must
commit oneself to him and remain with him wherever ask the utterly and totally different question,
he leads. ‘What is the will of God?’19

[Discipleship] is nothing other than being Further, he describes the attempt to categorize re­
bound to Jesus Christ [Bindung an Jesus ality into moral spheres as the primal temptation it­
Christus] alone. This means completely break­
self. This is the voice of the serpent promising, “you
ing through anything preprogrammed, ideal­
shall be like God” precisely in knowledge of good and
istic, or legalistic. No further content is pos­
sible because Jesus is the only content. There
evil. The role of Christian ethics and reflection is not
is no other content besides Jesus. He himself to place such labels on ourselves, one another, or as­
is it. So the call to discipleship is a commit­ pects of reality itself according to some abstract sys­
ment [Bindung] solely to the person of Jesus tem of evaluation. Rather than judgment, the faithful
Christ.1S Christian stance is one of discernment and obedience
to the voice of Christ who alone reveals what is real,
By the spiritual disciplines of attunement to Jesus’ and who himself is the content of the good.2" This
call, gaze, and touch, disciples learn over time to dis­ frees the Christian from both arrogation to oneself of
cern reality: to let the One who is the reality of God the divine capacity for judgment and slavish subservi­
and world lead them deeper into each. Needless to ence to social, religious, or self-imposed rules and moral
say, this process is by no means simple or automatic. systems.
To learn, given one’s own human limitations and sin­
fulness and the profound complexity of the human
psyche, to recognize and obey the voice ofJesus Christ
46 dialog: A Journal of Theology • Volume 41, Number 1 • Spring 2002

Christ Replaces Knowledge of habitual human tendency toward placing categories

on reality: “good” or “evil.”
Good and Evil
To summarize, then, the writings and witness of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer provide clear testimony to the sig­
nificance of discernment for the faithful unfolding of
In his explication of discernment, Bonhoeffer thus
Christian life in the world. Indeed, toward the end of
not only asserts that one can discern the will of God his life Bonhoeffer comes to speak of the goal of this
“only within the space which is defined by Jesus
entire process as not simply discipleship (Nachfolge,
Christ,” as noted above, but he now defines that “space” the “following after”) of Christ but outright confor­
more clearly That is, Christ himself “occupies within
mation (Gleichgestaltung) with him.23 The spiritual
us exactly that space which was previously occupied discipline of meditation on the Word, alone and in
by our own knowledge of good and evil.”21 Thus for
community, for oneself in all personal depth and in
Bonhoeffer “the space which is defined by Jesus Christ” light of the world’s enormous needs, gradually draws
is his image for the relinquishing of a priori categories
persons into conformation with the living Word at
of evaluation of oneself or others and letting reality be the heart of reality.
defined for us by the living voice of Christ. In his Eth­
Although saturated with intimacy, love, and grati­
ics he does not give this new space any more content tude, this is by no means of course a painless process;
than this, defining it here primarily negatively, i.e., in
the discernment of the living Word in community re­
relinquishing of judgment. But in a lovely essay writ­ veals also our sins and shortcomings forgiven only as
ten in the same period, he seems to be proposing grati­
we repent of them before God and others in concrete
tude as a positive criterion of discernment. He writes, confession.24 And conformation with a crucified God
means that disciples are drawn into risky solidarity
That for which I can thank God is good. That
with the world’s crucified ones as well. It may mean
for which I cannot thank God is evil. And the
therefore a death sentence at the hands of the Nazis;
determination whether I can thank God for
something or not is discerned in Jesus Christ but through it all, discernment of the presence, form,
and his Word. Jesus Christ is the boundary of and call ofJesus Christ in the world is, for Bonhoeffer,
gratitude. Jesus Christ is also the fullness of a love affair with life in all its fullness and reality. Fur­
gratitude; in him gratitude knows no bounds. ther, to return to the terms used at the beginning of
It encompasses all gifts of the created world. this article, his capacity for uniquely clear and atten­
It embraces even pain and suffering. It pen­ tive discernment shaped the truths of religion into a
etrates the deepest darkness until it has found living and transformative spirituality—a spirituality
within it the love of God in Jesus Christ. ... which in turn subsequently nourishes, critiques, and
Gratitude is even able to encompass past sin
vivifies the religion itself for new generations of believ­
and to say yes to it, because in it Gods grace
ers. The capacity for discernment Bonhoeffer develops
is revealed— O felix culpa (Romans 6:17).22
thus works not only to mediate religion into a living
spirituality but in reverse as well, as he uses religious
One might say that Bonhoeffer considers gratitude
claims (e.g., Jesus Christ as the criterion of reality) to
a (if not the) mark of the well-discerned Christian life,
adjudicate the authenticity ofvarious competing “spiri­
as discernment of and faithfulness to one’s actual, con­
tualities” of his day and to reject those, such as Nazi
stantly-evolving, concrete vocation that allows a per­
ideology, which violate fundamental Christian religious
son to rest continually in gratitude even in the midst
truth. Thus the capacity for discernment functions to
of evil and suffering. It is a fruit of that immersion in
mediate between religion and spirituality in both di­
Christ alone which gradually releases people from the
rections, as believers receive living spiritual truth from
religious tradition, and as they use religious criteria in
turn to probe the adequacy of any given spirituality.
 Probing the Will of God: Bo nho offer and Discernment • Lisa E. Dahill 47

A Polyphony of Love for the turies, from Luther to Bach to Distler, by hymns and
their musical settings. For Bonhoeffer, the image of
Created World
polyphony evokes our participation in Christ whose
resurrection draws us into the heart of the world, and
whose own being in us is that cantusfirmus in relation
I will close with a uniquely “Bonhoefferean” image
to whom our lives’ own “counterpoint has a firm sup­
of the discernment which marked his life. Far from port and can’t come adrift or get out of tune, while yet
being obsessively focused solely on the “cost” of dis-
remaining a distinct whole in its own right.”27 In his
cipleship, his whole life a stoic journey toward mar­
initial letter the metaphor of polyphony first serves as
tyrdom, Bonhoeffer in fact loved and celebrated the
a means of comforting his friend Eberhard Bethge who
created world in many dimensions throughout his life. was about to return to the front lines (“rely on the
One especially significant aspect of life in all its full­
cantus firmusl”)-, it then re-emerges in Bonhoeffer’s
ness for him was music: his family and friends made prayer and in later letters as well, gradually coming to
music often, eagerly, for hours on end. Bonhoeffer him­
describe his joy in the multi-dimensionality and se­
self was an extremely gifted pianist, and his love of cure rootedness of faith.28 Just as each contrapuntal
hymns and music comes through clearly in his prison
line has its own relative independence and musical
letters, where remembered favorite stanzas or overheard
integrity even as it resounds over against other lines
radio broadcasts evoke profound depths of comfort,
and the cantus firmus itself in surprising, hidden, or
grief, or joy. He often quotes deeply loved poetic lines revelatory ways, so too the various aspects of our lives
from hymns and even sketches out musical notations
in the world take on their true significance only in
to remind his readers of a piece he has in mind.25 their ultimate relation to the One “firmly sung” by
Thus it is not surprising, perhaps, that an image
God, namely Jesus Christ.
Bonhoeffer develops to evoke the fullness of life into To listen for the cantus firmus among all the other
which the resurrection of Jesus Christ bears us is that
complementary or distracting melodies of our experi­
of polyphony. Reflecting in delight on the sensuality ence in this complex world—this is discernment.
and passion of the Song of Songs, and on the Hebrew
Bonhoeffer’s legacy gives us important clues not only
Scriptures’ great and utterly unrestrained love of this- as to how such attentive listening takes place in Chris­
worldly life in general, he makes use of this musical
tian life but also of the soaring beauty of a life firmly
metaphor to describe the ways he sees all our loves, all anchored in the cantusfirmus even in the midst of grave
our fully “secular” passions and vocations, taking their
threat. This is, I believe, a lovely and authentically
place in relation to God as cantusfirmus: Lutheran image of the discernment at the heart of
Christian faith.
God wants us to love [God] eternally with our
whole hearts—not in such a way as to injure or
weaken our earthly love, but to provide a kind
of cantus firmus to which the other melodies
Endnotes
of life provide the counterpoint. ... Where the
cantus firmus is clear and plain, the counter­ 1. See for instance the version provided, with notes and introduc­
point can be developed to its limits. The two tion, in the Classics of Western Spirituality series: “The Spiritual
are ‘undivided and yet distinct,’ ... like Christ Exercises,” trans. George E. Ganss, S. J., in Ignatius of Loyola: The
Spiritual Exercises and Selected Works, ed. George E. Ganss, S. J., et al.
in his divine and human natures. May not the
(New York, Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1991), 113-214.
attraction and importance of polyphony in
2. Many recent works have attempted definitions of the terms
music consist in its being a musical reflection “religion” and “spirituality” to highlight their differences or relationship.
of this Christological fact and therefore of our In a recent lecture entitled, “Religion and Spirituality: Strangers, Rivals,
vita christianai16 or Partners?,” The Santa Clara Lectures 6/2 (February 6, 2000), Sandra
Schneiders offers the following definitions, among others. Religion is “a
spiritual tradition ... that has given rise to a characteristic way of
This image emerges from the very center of a understanding and living in the presence of the numinous” (7). This
characteristic mode of presence toward ultimate reality is institutionalized
Lutheran spirituality profoundly nourished over cen­ within “cultural systems ... organized in particular patterns of creed,
48 dialog: A Journal of Theology • Volume 41, Number 1 • Spring 2002

code, and cult” (8). Spirituality, in the sense I am using it, is the Todt, English eds., Geffrey B. Kelly and John D. Godsey, trans.
specifically experiential and personally or communally appropriative Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, DBWE 4, gen. ed. Wayne
dimension of a given religious tradition. In Christian terms, it refers to Whitson Floyd., Jr. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 43; cf. also 53.
the action of the Holy Spirit drawing believers into the life and Body of 14. All this emphasis on concreteness and particularity could open
Christ, in and for the world (cf. Schneiders, 3-6), and to believers’ Bonhoeffer to charges of relativism, of envisioning a universe in which
concrete experience of and participation in this work of the Spirit in their there are no ultimate truths, but always only merely conditional or
lives. provisional ones, different for each individual, shifting over time or in
3. As is well known, Luther insisted that the foundational principle different relational or historical setrings-a world unable to hear the
of biblical or indeed any ecclesial authority is not the decrees of councils, Word of God as that echoes through the centuries from an impossibly
popes, or theologians, but was Christum treiht: what conveys Christ as alien time and place. How then does the concrete relate to the universal?
the living Word of God (cf., e.g., “Prefaces to the Books of the Bible,” On this see his extensive treatment of the relation of the ultimate to the
TW 35:396). Listening for was Christum treiht is the process of penultimate (Ethics, 120-85). In brief, he correlates the realm of the
discernment, i.e., moving prayerfully, consciously, and responsibly ultimate with justification and that of the penultimate with sanctification.
between religious texts and a living spirituality encountering new context The justifying Word of God in which (or whom) we and the world are
and struggles. Cf. Robert J. Goeser, “The Doctrine of Word and created, named, loved, redeemed, and borne desires always to be made
Scripture in Luther and Lutheranism,” in The Report of the Lutheran- flesh in the penultimate realm of time and space. Without its concrete
Episcopal Dialogue Second Series 1976-1980 (Cincinnati: Forward embodiment in the penultimate (sanctification), it remains an
Movement, 1981). abstraction; yet without that ultimate vision (justification), there is no
4. Martin Luther, cited in Joseph Sittler, The Doctrine of the Word in hope or animation for the penultimate realm on its own. To merely
the Structure ofLutheran Theology (Philadelphia: ULCA Board of expect people to break free by themselves, without the Word of grace, is
Publication, 1948), 25. Sittler notes also, “just as the eye of faith must condemning and despairing law, while to preach merely ultimate vision
pierce through the Galilean rabbi, the poor man of Nazareth, to lay hold without its concrete embodiment in real situations of brokenness is
of the God-man-just so the spirit-given, discerning eye of faith must cheap grace and an abandonment of people to their misery in real life.
pierce through, unmask the incognito of a historical document and hear 15. Ethics, 41. Translation slightly altered: “probing” in place of
there the Word of God” (33f.). “proving.”
5. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers fom Prison, new greatly 16. Ibid., 42.
enlarged edition, ed. Eberhard Bethge, trans. Reginald Fuller et al. 17. Bonhoeffer explores the significance of these spiritual disciplines
(New York: Macmillan, 1971), 279. Hereafter referred to as LPP. in chapters 2-5 of Life Together (he does not use the language of
6. Schneiders, “Religion and Spirituality,” 19. “spiritual direction,” but speaks in broader ways of the profound
7. On discernment within the Jesuit tradition, see, e.g., Michael J. significance of relationships of intentional and Spirit-guided listening).
Buckley, “The Structure of the Rules for Discernment of Spirits,” in Also, it is in Life Together that Bonhoeffer speaks most clearly of the
Spiritual Exercises: Collected Essays, ed. Philip Sheldrake (London: importance of daily meditation on “God’s Word for me personally.” Cf.
SPCK, 1990); John Carroll Futrell, “Ignarian Discernment,” Studies in Life Together, German eds., Gerhard Ludwig Mtiller and Albrecht
the Spirituality ofJesuits, vol. 2, no. 2 (St. Louis: American Assistance Schonherr, English ed., Geffrey B. Kelly, trans. Daniel W. Bloesch and
Seminar on Jesuit Spirituality, 1969). For Quaker resources, see, e.g., James H. Burtness, DBWE 5 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 87ff.
Friends Consultation on Discernment (Richmond, IN: Quaker Hill Hereafter referred to as LT.
Conference Center, 1985), and Michael J. Sheeran, Beyond Majority 18. Discipleship, 59.
Rule: Voteless Decisions in the Religious Society of Friends (Philadelphia: 19. Ethics, 186. In the recent DEW edition, the order of the sections
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1983). has been reworked: here, these lines from “Christ, Reality, and the
8. Bonhoeffer himself wrestled with the inadequacy of “religion” Good” open the whole book. Cf. DBW 6: 31.
toward the end of his life (cf. in LPP the series of theological letters 20. He develops this insistence on the priority of discernment of the
beginning on April 30, 1944). Although he does not use the language actual will of God, as opposed to judgment according to schemes of
of this contemporary debate, perhaps his fascination with “non-religious good vs. evil, especially in his section on “Correspondence with Reality,”
interpretation” of Christian truth is his own attempt to discern a more Ethics, 224-32.
adequate spirituality for his time. Yet, far from in fact being a repudia­
tion of “religious” realities like the Bible, the church, sacraments, 21. Ibid., 45.
worship, and prayer, Bonhoeffer is attempting to liberate them from 22. “On the Gratitude of the Christian,” DBW 16: 491, my
unworkable past accretions- from, perhaps, the stifling residues of translation.
spiritualities long dead.
23. Cf. Ethics, 81-86.
9. Bonhoeffer, Ethics, trans. Neville Horton Smith (New York:
24. Cf. LT on confession, 108-16.
Touchstone/Macmillan, 1955), 187ff. For Bonhoeffer’s understandings
of “concreteness” and “abstraction,” see Mark Brocker, The Community of 25. See, for instance, LPP, 148, 170, 240. Places where he mentions
God, Jesus Christ, and Responsibility: The Responsible Person and the the importance of hymns (often the hymns of Paul Gerhardt) for him in
Responsible Community in Bonhoejfer’s Ethics (Ph.D. diss., University of prison include LPP, 22, 27, 40, 53, 128, 136, 148, 170, 207, 219,
Chicago, 1992), 199ff. 240, 272, 308 (note 33), 369, 375 (note 8).
10. Ethics, 193. 26. Ibid., 303. In musical terms, the cantus firmus, literally “firm/
solid song,” refers to a melody (usually a hymn melody, carrying the
11. Ibid., 224-32.
consciously or unconsciously evoked resonances of that hymn’s texts as
12. Ibid., 193ff, esp. 195. well) used as the basis of a complex composition in many voices. The
13. Note that, for instance, his well-known critique of “cheap grace” earliest polyphonous compositions tended to have the cantus firmus in
is formulated as precisely an attack on “grace as doctrine, as principle, as the tenor voice, but by the Baroque period composers experimented
system. ... forgiveness of sins as a general truth.” As such, it is the with putting this central harmonic line in all different voices. For organ
“denial of God’s living word, denial of the incarnation of the word of compositions, very often the pedal line came to take the cantus firmus,
God.” Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, German eds., Martin Kuske and Use whereas many choral cantata arrangements gave the melody to the
 Probing the Will of God: Bo nho offer and Discernment • Lisa E. Dahill 49

sopranos. Regardless of the particular voice expressing it, however, in all Dictionary ofMusic, ed. Willi Apel, revised and enlarged second edition
cases the cantus firmus functions as the harmonic center of the composi­ (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972).
tion, that in relation to which all the other voices take their places. This
27. LPP, 303.
is the sense in which Bonhoeffer is using the metaphor. For more
information on cantus firmus and polyphony see, e.g., Harvard 28. See LPP, 305, 311, 318.
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