Sin and Salvation

Abstract

Bonhoeffer’s varied corpus dictates that his reflections on sin and salvation are diverse in register and range between expositing his theological inheritance and a more deliberative reworking of key themes. The towering element of that inheritance is, naturally, Luther and the doctrine of justification. A resolute focus on the person of Christ that runs throughout all his writings leads Bonhoeffer to reframe the notion of justification as the reality of being incorporated into the life of one who creates a ‘new humanity’. In the words of Hofmann, whom Bonhoeffer quotes: ‘To understand his person and history properly is to understand our reconciliation properly’ (cf. DBWE 1: 142). This emphasis opens Bonhoeffer to theological resources beyond his proximate tradition, while also providing ways to draw together the various ‘moments’ of classical soteriology, to critique problematic turns in Protestant thought, and to show the comprehensive relevance of the dialectic of sin and salvation for all Christian thinking.