Bonhoeffer’s “Ontological Priority for the Future”

Though Bonhoeffer’s name is not often mentioned in the eschatological theology conversation ruled by the Moltmanns and Pannenbergs, this paper seeks to show that Bonhoeffer’s overall thought, from early to late, should be seen as both a precursor and corrective to Pannenberg’s proposal for “the ontological priority of the future.” Along such lines, Bonhoeffer should be re-casted as belonging to the conversation as a major player. Bonhoeffer’s eschatologically-oriented theology, what here will be called an “ontological priority for the future” (where the word “for” serves as a double-entendre), will be traced from throughout the corpus of his works in a way that its ongoing theological and ethical significance for our ideologically-polarized twenty-first century world will be drawn out.