Bonhoeffer: Theology and Social Analysis Unit
The Bonhoeffer: Theology and Social Analysis Unit invites paper proposals on themes related to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life, theology, and legacy.
In light of 2025 AAR President Leela Prasad’s annual meeting theme of “Freedom,” we welcome proposals that offer constructive explorations of Bonhoeffer’s theological, practical, and ethical legacy as it pertains to “freedom” in relation to any of the diverse purposes to which this theme is put by Bonhoeffer and/or those who have found Bonhoeffer generative for their own liberative theologies and praxes—including though by no means limited to Barth, Cone, Gutierrez, Krötke, Ruether, Townes, Tutu, and others.
As 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of Bonhoeffer's death (April 9, 1945), and in light of the AAR Presidential theme of "Freedom," we also welcome papers that engage Bonhoeffer's theology, ethics, poetry, and fiction in relation to the themes of freedom, resistance, death, and resurrection.
This Unit seeks to explore the historical and contemporary interface between theology and public life within the context of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s legacy in theology. Together with professional societies affiliated in the study of Bonhoeffer’s life and thought, the Unit has explored a variety of topics from medical ethics to political life in a global context.