Bonhoeffer's Deepened Faith

Metaxas records Dietrich's compelling experience that fundamentally shifted his life journey and work. Some historians have referred to it as his conversion, but Metaxas hardly deems this as an appropriate attribution due to the mass of opposing evidence. The experiential shift in Bonhoeffer's life during the year of 1932 was recorded in his letter which he wrote to the love of his life (whom he never married because of his life work/calling), Elizabeth Zinn. In January 1936 he wrote,

"I plunged into work in a very unchristian way. An...ambition that many noticed in me made my life difficult...Then something happened, something that has changed and transformed my life to the present day. For the first time I discovered the Bible....I had often preached. I had seen a great deal of the Church, and talked and preached about it - but I had not yet become a Christian...I know that at that time I turned the doctrine of Jesus Christ into something of personal advantage for myself...I pray to God that that will never happen again. Also I had never prayed, or prayed only very little. For all my loneliness, I was quite pleased with myself. Then the Bible, and in particular the Sermon on the Mount, freed me from that. Since then everything has changed. I have felt this plainly, and so have other people about me. It was a great liberation. It became clear to me that the life of a servant of Jesus Christ must belong to the Church, and step by step it became plainer to me how far that must go. Then came the crisis of 1933. This strengthened me in it. Also I now found other who shared that aim with me. The revival of the Church and of the ministry became my supreme concern...My calling is quite clear to me. what God will make of it I do not know...I must follow the path. Perhaps it will not be such a long one. (Phil. 1:23). But it is a fine thing to have realized my calling...I believe its nobility will become plain to us only in coming times and events. If only we can hold out" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, quoted by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, A Righteous Gentile vs. The Third Reich, [Nashville: Thomas Nelson]: 2010, 123-124).

Metaxas elaborates upon the aftermath of his spiritual awakening. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a changed man. For the first time in his life Bonhoeffer became a regular churchgoer. No more wishy-washiness for this scholarly academician. Church became an integral part of his life as well as regular participation in the Eucharist. Church-going was now more than an interest, it was an essentiality. Suddenly, church began to take priority over his avid love for concerts, movies, museums, the arts, travel, & the "philosophical & academic give-and-take of theological ideas." Metaxas notes that this shift was largely influenced by his American exposure in the "negro churches" which he attended in Harlem - one of the few avenues where the Gospel was being proclaimed in the States in his estimation.