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Virtue and Liberation in the Ethics of Bonhoeffer

Virtue and Liberation in the Ethics of Bonhoeffer cover

Description

This nuanced book gives a Bonhoefferian account of contemporary moral issues with a fresh method, style, and perspective.

Norris addresses the most pressing ethical issues today, such as racism and politics, along with everyday ethical topics like friendship and truthtelling; he does so through the lens of a particular theological interpretation of Bonhoeffer's work.

This considered book makes an argument for Bonhoeffer as a forerunner of what are now considered liberation and postliberal theologies, while providing analyses of contemporary ethical issues that emerge out of the use of this interpretative lens upon his work. Norris highlights how Bonhoeffer holds these positions together and reveals the nuanced ethical conclusions and practices one might reach from that perspective. Ultimately, this work argues that the life of discipleship, for Bonhoeffer, is a way of formation into a community of responsibility to and for others as a means of resistance to systems that suppress human liberation, especially for the marginalized.

This book intervenes into academic conversations, but it also provides resources for practitioners and clergy.

Table of Contents

Part I - How May Christ Take Form Among Us?
1. Ethics as Formation, Responsibility, and Resistance
2. Finding Bonhoeffer at the Intersection of Postliberalism and Liberation

Part II - Who is Jesus Christ for Us Today?
3. Church: Bonhoeffer's Political Ecclesiology
4. Pluralism: Formation for Public Life
5. Politics: Two Kingdoms and Two Words
6. Pacifism: Violence, Luther, and the Sermon on the Mount

Part III - What Does it Mean To Be Truly Human?

7. Masculinity: Power and the Ethics of Friendship
8. Race: To See Responsibility from Below
10. Organizing: Political Theology, Responsibility, and Community Organizing

Bibliography
Index

Product details

Published 19 Feb 2026
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 192
ISBN 9780567719249
Imprint T&T Clark
Series T&T Clark New Studies in Bonhoeffer’s Theology and Ethics
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Kristopher Norris

Kristopher Norris is Director of Flourish, a finan…

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