Halden contributes a nice, succinct post in honor of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the 102nd anniversary of his birth, urging contemporary Christians to remain within the discomfort of the contradictions of his life and writings:
Bonhoeffer’s life, like his theology makes it harder, not easier to talk about God, and attempts to enlist Bonhoeffer’s witness in the service any theological or political agenda is bound to fail. The fact that Bonhoeffer’s untidy witness defies closure and complicates the task of talking about God is a testimony to the radical commitment to faithfulness that inheres in his life and theology. As Rowan Williams has reminded us, the task of the theologian is to complicate the task of talking about God. Bonhoeffer, on this score then can only be evaluated as one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century. None of us who aspire to be theologians of the church of Christ can dare to be done with Bonhoeffer. Like the saints of old, “he died, but through his faith he still speaks…” (Heb. 11:4)
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