To The Godhead As The Center Of Shaping

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) is an influential Chirstian thinker in 20th Century. Ethik (1940-1943) , one of his representative works, has drawn more and more interest of research.Since the beginnings of Christian ethics after the times of the New Testament the main underlying conception in ethical thought, and the one which has consciously or unconsciously determined its whole course, has been the conception of a juxtaposition and conflict of two spheres, the one divine, holy, supernatural and Christian, while the other mundane, secular and un-Christian. This view becomes dominant for the first time in the Middle Ages, and for the second time in the pseudo-Protestant thought of the period after the Reformation. Reality as a whole now falls into two parts, being devided into a sacred and a profane sphere, a Christian and a secular sphere. This makes possible only the existence of one sphere. The concern of Bonhoeffer's Ethics is with the proper relation of these two parts to each other. From this start point, Bonhoeffer tried to redress the viewpoint of "two Kingdoms" by Luther which misunderstood by Pseudo-Lutheranism.Central to Bonhoeffer's theological project was the theme of Christology. And he adopted the legacy of Chalcedon, namely, the divine nature and human nature in Christ were" not mixed, not changed, not divided, not separated. "More than a touch to the legacy of Chalcedon, his development of this aspect of doctrine was designed to contribute to his work on ecclesiology, eschatology, epistemology, and the life of sanctification. For both Bonhoeffer and Luther, a complete Christology must include the life of the risen Christ who is still present in the world today.According to Bonhoeffer, the likeness between human and God are not a likeness of being, but a likeness of relationship. From the view personal relationship, Bonhoeffer's ethics show us an active aspect instead of a static one.Facing many ethical questions emerged from modernity, Bonhoeffer tried to establish his own "Ethics as Conformation", through his critique on Kant's Formalism and Nietzsche's voluntarism.One of the main themes which Bonhoeffer's Ethics has concerned is the Conformation of human life. This can be found in the Chapter of "Ethics as Conformation". In a sense, we could say that his ethics is a concrete ethics as conformation centered on Person. This essay shall do research on some aspects on these topics, especially the position of Commandment and mandate in the conformation.