Words that Speak: Hearing Bonhoeffer Today
Reflections on why (Presidential) Debates Should Matter
Hey Friends,
Just a quick reminder that my new Pod/Vid-Cast, “Campfire Philosophy,” will be launching live this coming Monday (July 1, 2024) at 7pm EST. It will be streaming on my YouTube channel so definitely plan to join us there so that you can ask questions in real time and be part of the conversation. This first episode is on the topic, “So What IS Philosophy of Religion Anyway?” and it will feature three guests at the campfire: Kevin Carnahan (former President of the Reinhold Niebuhr Society), Kevin Schilbrack (author of Philosophy and the Study of Religions), and Christy-Flannagan Feddon (Director of the Interfaith Dialogue Program at the University of Central Florida). It is going to be super fun and so I hope you will join us! And remember, that the paid subscribers here on Substack will be getting access to bonus content from the podcast and I will even be doing an entire bonus episode exclusively for them, so get upgraded to a paid subscription today so you don’t miss out!
Also, just a quick note - my monthly newsletter for July will be coming out on Monday morning (July 1st). Since the newsletter will hit the same day as my normal “Music Mondays” posts that are normally only for paid subscribers, this Monday I will be combining the newsletter and the Music Mondays and making it available for everyone. For those of you who have not upgraded to a paid subscription, this will give you a taste of the sort of content that you are missing out on every week!
Debates Should Matter
As I write this, a debate just concluded between the two candidates running for President of the United States: Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Normally, I would have watched all of it because I am deeply concerned about the importance of civic engagement and think that it is crucial to be invested in hearing the ideas of those who might be handed the mantle of power to shape not only public policy, but human history.
But things are not normal.
***I had several paragraphs here trying to explain this abnormality, but I fear that it strayed away from philosophical reflection and so I have decided to cut it. Here are the cliff’s notes:
I would vote for a shoebox before voting for Trump and I can’t see any moral justification for supporting him in any way.
I wish Biden were not running.
Ok, now let’s act as if I have just made all of that sound really sophisticated and then offer a cool transition into the following:
Debates should matter because they are the ritual whereby reason-giving is presented as still mattering as a social virtue.
Debates should matter because they are where candidates get to show what it looks like to be motivated by evidence.
Debates should matter because they are where we all get to acknowledge that loving truth is more important than being perceived as being right.
Debates should matter because freedom is real and yet so is finitude. What we do makes a difference for what others will be able to do.
But, I just can’t see any way that tonight’s debate matters in the ways that it should. When we are no longer motivated by reasons and our leaders no longer seem committed to humility as the key virtue of leadership, I am not sure what the debate is other than performative theatre for a society governed by self-interest.
Sigh.
And just in case you need a general synopsis of what actually happened and why it is likely a cause of despair for anyone who doesn’t think a narcissistic liar and convicted felon should be given the reigns of power, I actually think that this might be the best one available:
A Palate Cleanser
I was thinking about all of this earlier today and still probably would have tuned in for the debate just so I could engage folks on social media about the specific claims offered there, etc., but as it turns out, tonight I was unable to watch it because I was scheduled to give an interview to a podcast about the life and thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I will let you all know when the interview gets published.
In preparing for that interview, I was re-reading a bunch of Bonhoeffer and was so deeply struck by the way that he speaks directly to the kind of social mess we are facing. So, for today’s post, I want to offer something of a palate cleanser, as it were, for all of you who did listen to the debate and came away in frustration and also for all of you who couldn’t overcome the frustration enough even to watch the debate. Consider Bonhoeffer as something of a lemon sorbet that allows all that garlic and onion to be just a bit less overwhelming.
So, here are some words of Bonhoeffer that speak volumes, not just to his own time, but to ours. I will give a few summary thoughts at the end, but I just think that maybe we all could benefit from the encouragement to think deeply, live virtuously, and love courageously—especially when there are so many reasons to be dismissive, antagonistic, and hateful.
All of these passages are from Bonhoeffer’s little essay, “After Ten Years.” Bonhoeffer is explicitly talking about his experiences navigating the rise of Hitlerism in Germany and then his own imprisonment (which led eventually to his death at the hand of the Nazis). Notice, though, how prescient his words are for where we find ourselves today. Even if debates should matter, Bonhoeffer’s words call us to lean into the importance of remembering that some things do matter regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. In light of the last 10 years of social history, I think much of Bonhoeffer’s reflection could be affirmed today. Perhaps listening to a voice standing up in the midst of a time defined by historic evil can offer us a reminder to stand where we find ourselves:
“One may ask whether there have ever before in human history been people with so little ground under their feet—people to whom every available alternative seemed equally intolerable, repugnant, and futile, who looked beyond all these existeing alternatives for the source of their strength so entirely in the past or in the future, and who yet, without being dreamers, were able to await the success of their cause so quietly and confidently. Or perhaps one should rather ask whether the responsible thinking people of any generation that stood at a turning-point in history did not feel much as we do, simply because something new was emerging that could not be seen in the existing alternatives.”
“The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. For evil to appear disguised as light, charity, historical necessity, or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on our traditional ethical concepts, while for the Christian who bases his life on the Bible it merely confirms the fundamental wickedness of evil.”
“The ultimate question for a responsible man to ask is not how he is to extricate himself heroically from the affair, but how the coming generation is to live.”
“Folly is a more dangerous enemy to the good than evil. . . . The fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self-satisfied; in fact, he can easily become more dangerous, as it does not take much to make him aggressive. A fool must therefore be treated more cautiously than a scoundrel; we shall never again try to convince a fool by reason, for it is both useless and dangerous.”
“There is a very real danger of our drifting into an attitude of contempt for humanity. . . . The man who despises another will never be able to make anything of him. Nothing that we despise in the other man is entirely absent from ourselves. . . . The only profitable relationship to others—and especially to our weaker brethren—is one of love, and that means the will to hold fellowship with them.”
“Trust will always be one of the greatest, rarest, and happiest blessings of our life in a community, though it can emerge only on the dark background of a necessary mistrust. We have learnt never to trust a scoundrel an inch, but to give ourselves to the trustworthy without reserve.”
“We are witnessing the leveling down of all ranks of society, and at the same time the birth of a new sense of nobility, which is binding together a circle of men from all former social classes. Nobility arises from and exists by sacrifice, courage, and a clear sense of duty to oneself and society, by expecting due regard for itself as a matter of course; and it shows an equally natural regard for others, whether they are of higher or of lower degree. We need all along the line to recover the lost sense of quality and a social order based on quality. Quality is the greatest enemy of any kind of mass-leveling. Socially it means the renunciation of all place-hunting, a break with the cult of the ‘star’, an open eye both upwards and downwards, especially in the choice of one’s more intimate friends, and pleasure in private life as well as courage to enter public life. Culturally it means a return from the newspaper and the radio to the book, from feverish activity to unhurried leisure, from dispersion to concentration, from sensationalism to reflection, from virtuosity to art, from snobbery to modesty, from extravagance to moderation. Quantities are competitive, qualities are complementary.”
“Thinking and acting for the sake of the coming generation, but being ready to go any day without fear or anxiety—that, in practice, is the spirit in which we are forced to live. It is not easy to be brave and keep that spirit alive, but it is imperative.”
“The essence of optimism is not its view of the present, but the fact that it is the inspiration of life and hope when others give in; it enables a man to hold his head high when everything seems to be going wrong; it gives him strength to sustain reverses and yet to claim the future for himself instead of abandoning it to his opponent.”
“We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretense; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use? What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straightforward men. Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness?”
I have read this essay many, many times, and yet today these words seem to resonate just a bit more deeply. Notice his call for people (his use of “men” should be read as gender-inclusive) who will stand against the fool and the scoundrel in the name of a concern for those who are overrun by the workings of social power. In a time when those who claim to be “values-voters” are untroubled about supporting a twice-impeached, convicted felon, and man held liable for sexual assault, it is easy to see how evil has played havoc with our moral concepts.
Throughout all of Bonhoeffer’s reflections we see a profound humility that marks his deep solidarity with humanity. Yet, it is hard to see how that is present with those who seem only to want power. His call for social trust rings out in light of the fact that some who would be entrusted with the role of leader use that office to undermine the institutions that serve to protect democratic community. Bonhoeffer calls to us to think about how our actions affect those who will inherit the world from us. Are we doing all we can today to create a tomorrow that they will be able to embrace with gratitude?
Somehow this “debate” does not make me think that any of us are able to answer that question with an easy “yes.”
As always, thank you so much for thinking with me. I would love to hear your comments and thoughts in response to what I am offering you here. Come, let’s walk together and talk along the way.
Please help me to build this community where quality matters and thinking together is a means of building the trust that facilitates joy despite continued difficulties.
Thank you SO MUCH for this lemon sorbet. It was cleansing. I deeply appreciate your work and commitment to help us grow deeper in every way.