From Sin to Saint: True Stories of Redemption

In this episode, we examine what we do know of Bonhoeffer's role in Nazi resistance, his time in prison, his final hours, and, lastly, the various interpretations of Bonhoeffer's legacy in the decades following his death. Our ultimate goal is to carefully consider this question: what can we learn from the life and tragic death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer? 

In this episode, we look at how the transformation of Bonhoeffer from an immature young man with ties to German nationalism to a mature theologian with an anti-racist, anti-facist ideology shaped his resistance to Nazism in Germany in the 1930s.

In this episode we will look at the most transformative period of Bonhoeffer's life, a four year stretch between 1927 and 1931 that encompassed his first pastorate in Barcelona, his revelatory year in the United States, and finally his early battles with Nazism in his home land.

In order to grasp the full weight of Bonhoeffer's legacy, we need to understand the person behind the legend. In this first episode, we introduce the series and look deeply at Dietrich Bonhoeffer's early years, from his childhood and first encounters with Christianity to his adolescence and experience living in the Weimar Republic post-World War I. We begin to explore the questions, "Who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer?" and "What experiences in his life led him from a comfortable patriotic German childhood to a resistor of Nazi rule?"

This is From Sin to Saint, a podcast from Patheos. In each season, we will look at the true stories of redemption of saintly figures from all faiths. Our goal is to to understand the passions that drove them and the challenges they overcame on the journey.