Bibliography Author: Lisa Dahill

Originally presented as a response to a lecture given by Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2006, this essay contributes in its own right to the conversation on Lutheran spirituality nourished by the last three decades of Finnish Luther scholarship around questions of theosis. It explores these motifs with a particular focus on desire, eros, and intimacy as neglected dimensions of an authentically Lutheran spirituality.

This essay takes further the ―Christmas‖ motif as a metaphor of Bonhoeffer‘s Lutheran spirituality. Condensed from lectures given at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, CA, and Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Ontario, it focuses on the last five years of Bonhoeffer‘s life and the intensifying of the incarnational heart of his experience of Jesus Christ in the face of not only profound suffering and evil, but the radiance of love.

This article explores ten strategies – some counter-intuitive – by which I see Bonhoeffer engaged in resisting various dimensions of the Nazi worldview and complicity with evil. It includes implications for our own resistance and context.

Discernment refers to the complex practice of learning, as an individual or community, to attend to the voice and leading of the Spirit in one‘s own life and context. This practice was central to Bonhoeffer‘s spirituality as he sought to remain attentive to God‘s presence and guidance in the unprecedented and morally chaotic world of Nazi Germany. This essay traces central elements of Bonhoeffer‘s experience of discernment as an initial contribution to a broader Lutheran understanding of this practice.

Provides a Lutheran definition of spirituality and introduces readers to the academic study of Christian spirituality.