Explore "Overcoming Fear" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Berlin, Second Sunday after Epiphany, January 15, 1933.
In January 1933, shortly before Hitler came to power, Bonhoeffer preached this sermon at a vespers service on the evening of the second Sunday after Epiphany. It was a time of great tension in Berlin, and of widespread fear. The Hindenburg government was tottering, indeed was about to go under, and with it Germany's fragile first republic, created at Weimar after World War I. There was fear of Communism-the "Red Tide from the East"-and other extremist movements, and danger from open fighting in the streets. In the midst of this storm, Bonhoeffer was no more certain of the future than anyone else, but he was sure that followers of Christ should know where to turn. "God stands above all . Â . Â . his Word unstayed," Bonhoeffer assured the congregation, quoting a verse from "The Golden Sun," a beloved hymn by Paul Gerhardt.