Resistance and Submission: Encountering Fate in Bonhoeffer's Prison Letters

Abstract “Submission” does not often feature in titles on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life and thought; he has become, singularly, a theologian “of resistance.” Yet the German title of his prison writings— Widerstand und Ergebung [ Resistance and Submission ]—reveals a more agile approach when it comes to one's “fate” [ das Schicksal ]. In this essay I argue that Bonhoeffer offers a distinct theological and ethical stance for facing the circumstances that are sent to us. I first situate his reflections within a broader historical frame, showing how patristic and medieval theologians either rejected or accommodated fate with respect to God's providence, then I outline politically charged references to the concept of fate among Bonhoeffer's Lutheran contemporaries—Emanuel Hirsch, Paul Althaus, and Werner Elert. I next analyze how Bonhoeffer creatively engages with the question of fate by employing both the Ich‐Du encounter of personalist philosophy and Martin Luther's conviction that the course of events can be perceived as a “mask” of God. In so doing, I demonstrate that Bonhoeffer offers a nuanced alternative to ethical theories that focus on active agency without a passive or receptive corollary.