Renate bethge biography templates
•
In Memoriam: Renate Bethge (1925-2019)
Remarks about Renate Bethge on the day of her funeral by Barbara Green: Bremen, Germany/July 18th, 2019
Few things annoyed Renate Bethge more than when a scholar visiting in her home, often a star-struck American, would turn in her presence to her husband and ask him about details of events and discussions in the life of her family of origin, including events that happened long before he had joined the family and events where she had personally been present. Granted, her husband was the renowned scholar Eberhard Bethge, whose friendship and correspondence with Dietrich Bonhoeffer became the basis and impetus for Bonhoeffer’s impact on the post-war world. But Renate was the eye witness, the one who saw Dietrich Bonhoeffer coming and going in and out of her parents’ house while she was growing up, even as she was in and out of her Bonhoeffer grandparents’ house next door, where Dietrich kept a room. It took a long time for all those m
•
Search Words on the Word
Renate Bethge’s Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Brief Life, is about as short a Bonhoeffer biography as there is. Renate’s husband was the late Eberhard Bethge, Bonhoeffer’s dear friend and biographer. Renate is also Bonhoeffer’s niece.
Whereas Eberhard’s bio is well over 900 pages, Renate’s Brief Life is under 90. It’s laid out nicely, with lots of photographs, wide margins, and quotations from Bonhoeffer’s writing and correspondence. Given how little text is actually on a page, it’s a quick read.
The book offers a succinct overview of Bonhoeffer’s life, yet it does not lack substance in its brevity. Highlights for me were the overview of his parents (and their character, and its effect on Bonhoeffer), a chapter called “Contacts with Jews,” and the personal touch of including some of Bonhoeffer’s correspondence. His beautiful poem “Who Am I?” is re-printed here in its
•
Tag Archive
(1868–1948) (1874–1951)
Distinguished parents
Dr. Karl Bonhoeffer was a prominent neurologist and a professor of psychiatry at the University of Berlin. In addition, he served as director of the psychiatric and neurological clinic at the Charite Hospital Complex in Berlin. Trained in the disciplines of science, he encouraged in his children self-reliance, control, independence, and objectivity. He was not at all enthused when Dietrich decided as a boy to become a minister and theologian.
Paula Bonhoeffer was daughter of Karl-Alfred von Hase, a chaplain in the court of Kaiser William II. Her grandfather was renowned church historian Karl-August von Hase. Paula exercised profound influence on all her children. She was concerned that they develop familiarity with the Bible, hymns, and traditions of the Christian faith.
The Bonhoeffers had eight children: Walter, Karl-Friedrich, Klaus, Ursula, Christine, Sabine, Dietrich, and Susanne.
The B