Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Heidelberg Catechism

Abstract Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s contentious relationship with Reformed theology has been well studied. What has been overlooked is Bonhoeffer’s substantial and very positive engagement with the Heidelberg Catechism during his time as an instructor of Confessing Church seminarians (1935–1939). This article suggests reasons for how and why Bonhoeffer was drawn to the Heidelberg Catechism during the German Kirchenkampf of the 1930s. It specifically analyzes Bonhoeffer’s appropriation of several Reformed emphases in the Heidelberg Catechism that were neglected by his own Lutheran tradition—including the use of the Old Testament for discipleship and the ascension of Christ—in order to voice a “living confession” for a church and nation in crisis.