Join us on April 4th at 7PM at Union Theological Seminary, room AD 205, where Arnd Henze, award-winning TV journalist, theologian, and author, visiting from Germany, will deliver a lecture entitled “Weaponizing Bonhoeffer: How Church Resistance to Hitler Was Dragged into Today’s Culture War.” Following the lecture, there will be a discussion.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a former international student at Union Theological Seminary (1930-31) and a protestant pastor who later worked for the resistance against the Nazi regime. He has inspired progressive Christians worldwide for decades. It is therefore all the more perplexing that he has become increasingly entangled in the global cultural struggle against liberal societies in recent years. How did this happen? And how can we counter the appropriation of Bonhoeffer?

Arnd Henze is a television journalist at WDR, a public broadcaster in Germany, as well as a publicist and theologian. Initially working as a foreign affairs editor, and later as a correspondent in the ARD Capital Studio, he reported from the United States and many crisis regions. For many years, he has been engaged in exploring the global challenges to democracy. His book “Can the Church embrace democracy” takes a critical look at the church’s culture of remembrance. Henze is an appointed member of the EKD synod.