Posted on 07/07/2014 8:15:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A new biography is raising questions about the life and relationships of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an anti-Nazi dissident whose theological writings remain widely influential among Christians.
Both left-leaning and right-leaning Christians herald the life and writings of Bonhoeffer, who was hanged for his involvement in the unsuccessful plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. Bonhoeffer was engaged to a woman at the time of his execution, observing that he had lived a full life even though he would die a virgin.
The new biography, Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from University of Virginia religious studies professor Charles Marsh, implies that Bonhoeffer may have had a same-sex attraction to his student, friend and later biographer Eberhard Bethge.
There will be blood among American evangelicals over Mr. Marshs claim, Christian Wiman, who teaches at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, wrote in a review for The Wall Street Journal. But theres been no bloodbath yet, at least considering a few initial reviews.
Marsh makes a convincing case that Bonhoeffer harbored feelings for Bethge that extended beyond friendship, writes Timothy Larsen, a professor of Christian thought at evangelical Wheaton College, in a book review for Christianity Today. Those feelings were unrequited, and Bonhoeffer probably did not consciously acknowledge them. Still, Marsh notes, he was possessive and smothering in his attention.
(Excerpt) Read more at religionnews.com ...
RE: Co-opt the dead.
They cant confirm or deny...
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There was also a book that claimed Abe Lincoln was gay.
Apparently, Lincoln was close friends with Joshua Speed, a man considered effeminate by contemporaries, and the two shared both living quarters and a bed for four years.
This of course, was not highly unusual for the time, as men often slept together because of a lack of money or space, but the relationship may have been more intimate than a deep friendship.
Lincoln wrote what many consider to be a homoerotic poem about Speed, and Lincoln broke off his engagement to Mary Todd when Speed left Illinois to concentrate on his own marriage and business pursuits.
It was only after a respite from work and his personal life at Speeds plantation in Kentucky that Lincoln reconsidered marriage. This certainly does not prove Lincoln was bisexual, but the circumstantial evidence points in that direction.
Additionally, Lincolns bodyguard, Captain David Derickson, reportedly shared a bed with the president when Lincolns wife was out of town and had a close personal relationship with Lincoln that extended beyond business. Again, this was a rumor, and some historians have discounted it as hearsay, but the fact that Washington society was aware of it might indicate an element of truth. Interestingly, Lincolns supposed homosexuality led to the establishment of the Log Cabin Republicans, a modern political organization predominantly comprised of homosexual Republicans dedicated to same-sex issues.
And now they try to paint every hero as a homosexuals. No, he wasn’t. The homos were the Nazis. Ernst Roehm.
Still waiting for the sodomite nazis to claim John Wayne and George S. Patton were queer. Never been much of a Lincoln fan, but the stuff about him being a fag is farfetched to say the least, but that still does not stop the acceptance-hungry sodomites from labeling anyone and everyone fag if there is the least bit of “evidence”. They usually wait till after the person is dead so they can’t defend themselves.
I have a different view .. perhaps, as “an anti-Nazi dissident whose theological writings” may have been more important to him.
There are some people who’s calling is more important than the expected temporary gratification of a normal life.
To assume he’s gay without any evidence is typical of the left in their attempts to smear his name. But, I thought being gay was okay .. maybe not. The left is sick!
It’s hard for the left to contemplate doing without a sex life .. but for some people it’s a secondary thought; not a first.
“There are some people whos calling is more important than the expected temporary gratification of a normal life.”
The same specious speculation is ruminated about Adolph Hitler also. That he was gay. No proof at all, but the speculation is endless. Maybe Bonhoeffer and Adolph Hitler were gay lovers and Bonhoeffer tried to blow up Hitler as part of a lover’s quarrel. That would be a good tale to tell. It’s as good as any of the other many fabrications as to who is/was gay or not.
“Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a brave man of principle.”
In my view, if he was a homosexual, and never acted on those sinful desires, makes him even more a man of principle.
This is just...sad.
Well .. good luck with that story.
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