What might the often cited phrases from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s prison theology mean for the ethical discourse at the beginning of the 21st century? Which hermeneutical concepts might enable contemporary religious thinkers to enter into a dialogue with Bonhoeffer’s thought? This collection of lectures will address questions like these both by examining the intellectual, cultural and historical origins of Bonhoeffer’s Tegel Theology and by drawing out the ethical consequences of Bonhoeffer’s contribution for current political discourses. Going Bonhoeffer and Beyond – as the title indicates – means interpreting contemporary issues like religious pluralism and political ethics in the light of Bonhoeffer’s key ideas such as his Christological «life-concept» or his ethical distinction between the «ultimate and the penultimate things».

The Author: Ralf K. Wüstenberg is Director of the Institute for Protestant Theology and Visiting Professor for Systematic Theology at Freie Universität Berlin. He is a graduate of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Ph.D. 1995) and the university of Heidelberg (Habilitation 2003). In 1999 he was Research Fellow at the university of Cape Town and in 2002 the Visiting Bonhoeffer Teaching Scholar at Union Theological Seminary, New York. He is author of several books.