Heinrich Bedford-Strohm | Peter Bubmann | Hans-Ulrich Dallmann | Torsten Meireis (Hrsg.): Kritische Öffentliche Theologie (Leseprobe)

32 Dirk J. Smit
ment approvingly, claiming that the message of hope »is the center of the gospel«
and »the proclamation of this message of hope is the most important task of the
church«. (Huber, 1986: 39)
He describedthe dynamicsofour crisis as he sawitand then spoke about the
dynamics ofhope – talking about the God of freedom, the God of righteousness,
and the God of love – and the dynamicsoffellowship, namely the consequences of
this message for the church. When fellowship in holy communion has broken up,
the church’sstructures have become heretical,heargued,and when political accommodation
destroys fellowship a status confessionis exists. In such amoment of
truth, overcoming the heretical structures of the church coincides with bringing
about political change. It seems inevitable,hesaid, that the renewal of fellowship
in the church is acrucial step towards the church’spolitical witness. The church
itself should become an order of justice in order to bear credible political witness.
Through practical action the church becomes an exemplary symbol of freedom,
denying co-operation with violent rule and helping victims of violence.
Many of these claims were not only prophetic, but clearly flowed from his
past experiences – participation in the peace movement, research in the Protestant
Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Heidelberg (FEST), responsibilities
of leadership in the popular Kirchentag.
At the same time, many of these convictions had alreadybeen articulated in
his earlier academic writings, originally in his ground-breaking thesis called Kirche
und Öffentlichkeit (1973), but also in essays on ecumenical witness called Der
Streit um die Wahrheit und die Fähigkeit zum Frieden. Vier Kapitel ökumenische
Theologie (1980), and particularly in the instructive volume Folgen christlicher
Freiheit. Ethik und Theorie der Kirche im Horizont der Barmer TheologischenErklärung
(1983). Those of us interested in the background and further implications of
his speech could consult these and similar sources. It already then became clear
how much his thought on the church’s witness was indebted toBonhoeffer and
the Theological Declaration of Barmen. The subtitle of Folgen christlicher Freiheit
explained that he was doing ethics and ecclesiology in the tradition of Bonhoeffer
and Barmen – which meant for him drawing consequences from the gospeloffreedom.
In years to follow, all this becameonly more and more clear and consequential.
1987
In 1987 he was again invited for alecture tour. This time he spoke at different
universities to academic audiences, but again reflected on the public witness of
the church. Two of his themesinparticular becameinfluential, both dealing with
issues central to the church’s witness.