How Dietrich Bonhoeffer Preached: Clear Away the Tame Version First
Dietrich Bonhoeffer did most of his regular preaching away from home: in Barcelona, in London and at the underground seminary he led at Finkenwalde. We studied eight of his sermons, from Berlin in January 1933 to a wedding sermon written in Tegel prison in 1943. The shape holds: one text that rules the sermon, the sweet or safe version of it cleared away, a turn to Christ, and words spoken straight to the hearers.
Who Dietrich Bonhoeffer was
Bonhoeffer was a Berlin theologian with a doctorate at 21. He spent a year as assistant pastor in Barcelona (1928) and two years with two German congregations in London (1933-35), the German Evangelical Church in Sydenham and St Paul’s Reformed Church in Whitechapel. His collected works hold 71 complete sermons and homilies, preached before he turned 40, most of them before 30.
At Finkenwalde and its successor groups he taught homiletics in nine half-year courses (1935-40), training a generation of Confessing Church pastors, and the seminary’s life produced Discipleship and Life Together. He was arrested in 1943 and executed at Flossenbürg on April 9, 1945, the day after leading a final service for fellow prisoners.
The shape of a Bonhoeffer sermon
Bonhoeffer stated one text at once and kept it as the governing word. He let it do the talking and refused to decorate it.
Before he built anything, he cleared away the picture people already carried. In “My Spirit Rejoices,” Mary’s song isn’t the “dreamy” Mary but “the most revolutionary Advent hymn.” He did the same with the treaty that keeps the peace and the love that holds a marriage together.
He didn’t announce heads. He usually walked the text’s own words or verses, named the hearers’ moment plainly, whether fear, a new pastor or a wedding apart, and put pointed questions to the room: “stones or bread?”
The turn most often landed on Christ present in the room or on the cross. Then he ended by speaking straight to the hearers with a command, a question, a rule or a prayer instead of a summary.
What made his preaching different
Clear the false picture
He takes down the sentimental version before the text speaks, so the passage can say something people haven’t already decided it says.
Christ in the boat
Fear, war or a wedding apart is met by the present Christ. In “Overcoming Fear,” the storm ends with “Away with you, fear” and a prayer to see Jesus.
Speak to them, not about them
He ends on a command, a rule, a question or a prayer. The hearers are addressed, not described.
What others said
“Very little could compete with the significance Bonhoeffer attached to preaching.”
— Barry Harvey, Christian Century, 2012
“From the first moment the assembly was breathless with tension.”
— Otto Dudzus, his student, recalling the Fanø address, 1934
What to take into your own pulpit
Name the tame version
Every familiar passage has a safe reading people bring with them. Say it out loud, then let the text take it apart.
Ask the question they’d rather avoid
Bonhoeffer put plain, uncomfortable questions to the room. A good question can do more than a point.
End by talking to them
Skip the recap. Finish with a command, a question or a prayer spoken straight to the people in front of you.
Those are the ideas. The guide turns them into ten steps you can follow this week, plus the sermons we studied and a fill-in outline in his shape.
Free PDF · Preach Like the Greats
Learn to preach like Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
This post is the overview. The guide has the research and the method.
- The 8 sermons we studied, start to finish
- Ten steps to preach the way he did
- His sermon outline, movement by movement
- A fill-in template for your own text, 9 pages
Common questions
What was Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s preaching style?
Plain, text-driven and direct. He let one text govern the sermon, cleared away the sentimental reading first, asked pointed questions, turned to Christ present or the cross, and spoke straight to his hearers.
How did Dietrich Bonhoeffer structure a sermon?
He didn’t announce heads. He stated one text, cleared away a false picture of it, walked its words, named the hearers’ moment, turned to Christ, and closed with a command, a question, a rule or a prayer.
Where did Bonhoeffer preach?
Mostly away from home: as assistant pastor in Barcelona, with two German congregations in London, and at the preachers’ seminary he led at Finkenwalde. His last service was for fellow prisoners the day before his execution.