Egregious Reader

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a prodigy who grew up in the upper class of Berlin during WWI and decided to study theology and become a pastor. He traveled extensively and was deeply impacted by his year in NYC at Union. While there, he spent a lot of time in Harlem working with Abyssinian Baptist and reading the literature of the Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the few early voices warning about the danger of the Fuhrer Principle and of Hitler specifically. He, with others in his family, eventually became part of the attempted coup against Hitler. This led to his death by the state just before Germany surrendered.  One of his famous writings is a longer letter called After Ten Years that he wrote to friends and some fellow conspirators. It is an essay that explores their work and their country with encouragement to not see all their efforts as wasted.  One of the sections is called On Stupidity. He is not using the word in the normal bully put down way, like “Look at the blackboard, STUPI

Ideological Fortress (A Modest Explanation*) I have an idea for you all. The best way to keep your world intact is to mark off your own territory and never let yourself see outside of it. Why don’t you come up with a belief system that puts you at the center of salvation! Yes, that will be perfect. Now, the only reason you will ever talk to others is in hopes of converting them! The whole time they are trying to tell you about their life, you will not really be able to listen, right! You will just be looking for just the right door to jump in with your pitch! Actually, the best chance you will get is when people are scared or down on their luck. So you will always be waiting for that low moment or talking to someone who is struggling.** This will only further your ideas that it is people outside your four walls of ideology who need your salvation. You will never really hear from the strong ones right! And if you do, you will just think they are lying because they don’t have your salvat