The virtue of Bonhoeffer’s ethics: a study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics in relation to virtue ethics

271 Pages·2009·2.04 MB·English

by  Jennifer Lynne Moberly

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MOBERLY, JENNIFER,LYNNE
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2
The Virtue of Bonhoeffer’s Ethics

A Study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics in
Relation to Virtue Ethics

Jennifer Moberly
Thesis submitted for PhD
Durham University
December 2009
Abstract
Jennifer Moberly, „The Virtue of Bonhoeffer‟s Ethics: A Study of Dietrich
Bonhoeffer‟s Ethics in Relation to Virtue Ethics‟ (thesis submitted for PhD, December
2009)

This study first explores prima facie reasons for rejecting the possibility of seeing a
close relationship between Bonhoeffer‟s Ethics and virtue ethics. However, a closer
reading of his texts, and the examination of formulations of virtue ethics by Augustine,
Thomas Aquinas, and Alasdair MacIntyre, lead to the conclusion that those grounds are
insufficient for dismissing the possibility of such a relationship. Instead there is
compelling evidence for the presence of virtue-ethical aspects in his treatment of
justification and sanctification, his implicit anthropology and holistic conception of
human life, and especially in the theme of „conformation‟ and the notion of „simplicity‟.
Given the fact that there are some ways in which Bonhoeffer‟s Ethics appears to be
positively related to virtue ethics, the study then examines how these aspects are related
to elements of Barthian divine command ethics which are also present in Bonhoeffer‟s
conception. The suggested conclusion is that the two forms of ethical thought were used
throughout the writing periods in a dialectical integration within an overall vision of the
agent participating (by grace) in the reality that Christ has reconciled all reality to God.
Finally, the thesis considers how this understanding of Bonhoeffer‟s Ethics may be of
use within contemporary debates, and advocates seeing it as a distinctive example of
how virtue ethics may be articulated without compromising the role of grace.

J. Moberly The Virtue of Bonhoeffer’s Ethics 2
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1: Rationale for Study – Introduction......................................................................................... 8
1.2: A Theological Backdrop .......................................................................................................... 9
1.3: Rationale for Study - Conclusion .......................................................................................... 16
1.4: Guide for the reader ............................................................................................................ 18
1.5: Overview .............................................................................................................................. 19
Chapter Two: Bonhoeffer and 'Virtue Ethics'
2.1: Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 23
2.2: A Case for Connection .......................................................................................................... 23
2.3: The Evidence from Bonhoeffer ............................................................................................ 25
2.4: The Analysis of Bonhoeffer’s Commentators ...................................................................... 43
2.5: Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 62
Chapter Three: Virtue Ethics in the Christian Tradition
3.1: Augustine and Virtue Ethics ................................................................................................. 64
3.2: Thomas Aquinas’s Virtue Ethics ........................................................................................... 82
3.3: Alasdair MacIntyre ............................................................................................................... 92
3.4: Three Rival Versions of Virtue Ethics? ............................................................................... 101
3.5: Questions from Bonhoeffer ............................................................................................... 103
3.6: Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 112
Chapter Four: Bonhoeffer's Ethics as Virtue Ethical
4.1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 113
4.2: Justification and Sanctification .......................................................................................... 115
4.3: Overall concerns of Ethics .................................................................................................. 127
4.4: Specific aspects related to virtue ethics ............................................................................ 137
4.5: Virtue Ethical Themes in Bonhoeffer ................................................................................. 143
4.6: Mode of Ethical Discourse ................................................................................................. 153
4.7: Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 174
J. Moberly The Virtue of Bonhoeffer’s Ethics 3
Chapter Five: Divine Command and/or Virtue Ethics
5.1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 177
5.2: Divine Command in Bonhoeffer’s Ethics ............................................................................ 178
5.3: Rasmussen’s and Plant’s Interpretations ........................................................................... 186
5.4: Discussion of Similar Concerns .......................................................................................... 190
5.5: Tentative conclusions ......................................................................................................... 232
Chapter Six: Conclusion
6.1: Summary ............................................................................................................................ 236
6.2: What Bonhoeffer Can Teach us Regarding Virtue Ethics ................................................... 242
Bibliography

J. Moberly The Virtue of Bonhoeffer’s Ethics 4
Acknowledgements
Of course it is a matter of justice to acknowledge my indebtedness to a number of
people who have given me assistance in completing this thesis, but it is also a great joy
to note their help and kindness. To Dr Philip Ziegler I owe thanks for his generosity in
giving me time for discussion, helpful suggestions for further reading, and
encouragement regarding the nature of my study. I am grateful also to Dr Nigel Oakley
for reading a draft of one of the chapters and offering his comments, and to Dr Sibylle
Rolf for reading a draft of two of the chapters, sharing her knowledge of German
Lutheranism and Christian ethics, and providing a sounding board within the goods of
friendship.

Greater thanks go to my family, Walter, John-Paul and Rachel, who have given me their
unstinting and patient support through the years of this research. Walter generously
read early essays which were part of my preparation for the thesis, and gave me
encouragement when I most needed it.

However, without the support of my supervisor, Dr Robert Song, I could not have
completed this work. He has unfailingly been generous with his time, gracious in seeing
the best in my efforts, patient as I learned, and both kind and wise in offering criticisms
and suggestions. One could not ask for a more virtuous supervisor.

Jennifer Moberly
Durham, 10 September, 2009
J. Moberly The Virtue of Bonhoeffer’s Ethics 5
Abbreviations Used Throughout the
Thesis
DBW 1: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 1: Sanctorum Communio

DBW 2: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 2: Akt und Sein

DBW 3: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 3: Schopfung und Fall

DBW 4: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 4: Nachfolge

DBW 5: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 5: Gemeinsames Leben/Das Gebetbuch der
Bibel

DBW 6: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 6: Ethik

DBW 7: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 7: Fragmente aus Tegel

DBW 8: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 8: Widerstand und Ergebung

DBW 10: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 10: Barcelona, Berlin, America 1928-1931

DBW 11: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 11: Ökumene, Universität, Pfarramt 1931-
1932

DBW 12: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 12: Berlin 1932-1933

DBW 14: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 14: Illegale Theologenausbildung:
Finkenwalde 1935-37

DBW 15: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 15: Illegale Theologenausbildung:
Sammelvikariate 1937-1940

DBW 16: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke 16: Konspiration und Haft 1940-1945

DBWE 6: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works 6: Ethics

CD II/2: Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of God, Part 2

CD III/1: Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Creation

CD III/4: Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Creation

CD IV/2: Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Reconciliation

KD II/2: Karl Barth, Die kirchliche Dogmatik: Die Lehre von Gott

KD IV/2: Karl Barth, Die kirchliche Dogmatik: Die Lehre von der Versöhnung
J. Moberly The Virtue of Bonhoeffer’s Ethics 6
NE Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

ST Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

WA Martin Luther, Kritische Ausgabe, Weimar

J. Moberly The Virtue of Bonhoeffer’s Ethics 7
Chapter 1: Introduction

The title of the thesis, „The Virtue of Bonhoeffer‟s Ethics’, is meant to suggest the
inherent strengths of his work, one of which, I will claim, is the presence of both virtue
ethical and divine command modes of ethical discourse. As the subtitle, however,
makes clear, the central question of this study is how Bonhoeffer‟s Ethics is related to
virtue ethics. Of course, the question presupposes the possibility of a variety of answers:
that the two are utterly unrelated; that there was no intended relationship, even if a
reader now may make correlations through her own perspectives which she brings to the
reading; that there is an intentional relationship, even if the Ethics is not simply an
example of virtue ethics; that Bonhoeffer was unwittingly so influenced by others that
his account is one of virtue ethics; or that Bonhoeffer quite purposefully set out to offer
a Protestant construal of virtue ethics. In the following thesis I shall endeavour to
discover which of these possibilities accords best with the evidence, and to see what
„virtue‟ this might entail for the current situation in theological ethics.
1.1: Rationale for Study – Introduction
A study such as this must necessarily face difficult questions at the outset: Why should
it be undertaken? and, Why should it be read? Given that the aim of this thesis is to
examine the relation of Bonhoeffer‟s Ethics to what is now called „virtue ethics‟, one
might fairly consider that there are more than enough studies both of Bonhoeffer‟s
works and of virtue ethics already. Yet although some scholars have seen the possibility
of interpreting Bonhoeffer‟s Ethics with reference to virtue ethics or have at least
identified „conformation‟ as one of the leitmotifs of the work (and have seen it as in
some sense related to virtue ethics), no sustained attention has hitherto been given to the
question of how Bonhoeffer‟s Ethics as a whole might be related to virtue ethics. Since
the existence of this lacuna is not necessarily sufficient justification either to undertake
or read such a study, what reason might there be?

One reason, paradoxically, may be the reason mentioned already not to engage in such a
project: the sheer number of studies already available about virtue ethics. The impact of
Alasdair MacIntyre‟s (and others‟) work has been such that the central concerns
articulated in virtue ethics (the character of the ethical agent, her continuity and
J. Moberly The Virtue of Bonhoeffer’s Ethics 8