Everyone Who Acts Responsibly Becomes Guilty: Bonhoeffer's Concept of Accepting Guilt

"Everyone who acts responsibly becomes guilty" was a basic premise that Dietrich Bonhoeffer expressed in various ways in his theology and ethics. Even Bonhoeffer's own actions—in praying for the defeat of his country in World War II and in participating in a plot to assassinate Hitler—demonstrate the tension between the reality of guilt and Bonhoeffer's ethical decisions.

In this study, Christine Schliesser examines the problem of guilt in Bonhoeffer's writings, arguing that the concept of ...