Charles Marsh on Bonhoeffer’s 120th Birthday

The Russell Moore Show

Russell Moore

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2026

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it mean to follow Jesus when the state is demanding your loyalty—and the church is tempted to comply? Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here. On the 120th anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s birth (February 4th), Russell sits down with Charles Marsh—author of Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer—to ask why Bonhoeffer still captivates Christians and what his witness demands from us now. Together, they explore how Bonhoeffer recognized the moral collapse of the German church earlier than most, and why he insisted that confessing Christ’s lordship must sometimes give way to concrete, costly action in history. The conversation widens to the pastoral dilemma Bonhoeffer never escaped: when is it enough to proclaim the gospel faithfully, and when must a preacher speak directly to the crisis at hand? Marsh reflects on the tension between shaping consciences slowly and naming injustice plainly, and how Bonhoeffer struck a balance. Marsh ultimately tells the story of his own father, a Mississippi pastor who preached “Amazing Grace for Every Race” at real personal cost, and of figures like Will D. Campbell and Fannie Lou Hamer, whose Christian witness fused tenderness with moral clarity. Their lives, Marsh suggests, reveal that faithfulness may not be loud, but it is never neutral. Resources mentioned in this episode: Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Charles Marsh Brother to a Dragonfly by Will D. Campbell Fannie Lou Hamer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This paid message is from Lifeway Christian Resources.
0:04.1	Here's some good news.
0:05.7	This spring, the Gospel Project is moving into the New Testament.
0:10.4	The Gospel Project is the chronological Bible study
0:13.3	that shows how each passage of Scripture helps to tell the greater gospel narrative.
0:18.7	And this spring is a great time for your church to get your
0:22.1	groups pursuing the good news of Jesus Christ together. You can shop for the spring study
0:28.0	at gospelproject.com slash adults.
0:34.0	What is Christ calling me to do today, not only for the kind of truth of Christ, but for the goodness
0:44.5	and love of humankind. Hello, this is Russell Moore, and this is the Russell Moore show,
0:53.7	brought to you by Christianity Today.
0:55.7	Here, we look for signposts in a strange time by standing fast to what really matters.
1:02.4	Kingdom over culture wars, truth over tribalism, pilgrimage over partisanship, sanity over cynicism, witness over winning, and Christ over everything.
1:12.5	Today we have a conversation to do just that.
1:20.3	Sometimes there are birthdays that are of such significance that one just really cannot let them go by.
1:27.4	And one of those is Dietrich Bonhoeff, who was born on February the 4th, 1906, and would be 120 years old now.
1:38.8	And I wanted to talk to somebody who has spent a very long time, one of the most preeminent scholars on Bonhofer in the
1:47.9	world, to talk to us about what this man means for right now and for the question of how to be
1:57.9	a Christian in today's world. His book on Bonhoeffer, Strange Glory, A Life of
2:04.5	Dietrich Bonhofer is magnificent. It will absorb you, whether you've read a lot of stuff on
2:10.7	Bonhoffer or whether you have not. And then I also want to talk a little bit about
2:16.4	Mississippi and Southern religion at the end.
	...

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