Thi past week Mike was in Berlin, Germany to attend a course called “Dietrich Bonhoeffer As Minister.” The course was designed to study the life, writings, and theology of the great World War II Christian martyr. The course was part of the leadership requirements for Mike’s doctoral degree at Fuller Seminary.

Before the course the students had to read 3,000 pages of books written by and about Bonhoeffer. The course was taught in the Bonhoeffer House in western Berlin, the final home where Bonhoeffer lived before he was arrested, imprisoned, and ultimately killed by the Nazis. On one of the days the entire class (20+ students from all over the world) were taken on a guided tour through Berlin of all the historical Bonhoeffer sites.

Following the course each student now has several months to turn in 40-pages of original writing on Bonhoeffer related topics. Bonhoeffer was a great practitioner and theologian on living in community and discipling fellow believers.