By 1932, Dietrich Bonhoeffer had already published academic theology, lectured at the University of Berlin, and studied at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He knew the Bible inside out — in Hebrew, Greek, and German. He could parse every verse academically. But he'd later confess that for years, he'd studied the Bible without actually hearing it.
A Bench, a Bible, and a Shift
The change came quietly. Bonhoeffer was reading the Psalms — a text he'd analysed dozens of times — sitting on a bench during what was otherwise an unremarkable afternoon. He wasn't in crisis. He wasn't preparing a lecture. He was just reading.
But that day, the words did something different. They stopped being a text to be studied and became, as he later described it, words spoken directly to him. The Psalms weren't ancient literature anymore. They were a living voice addressing Dietrich Bonhoeffer on a bench in 1932.
From Theologian to Disciple
He wrote to a friend about the experience: "I had often preached, I had seen a great deal of the church, spoken and written about it — but I had not yet become a Christian." Coming from a man who was already a published theologian and ordained pastor, this is a remarkable admission. The encounter didn't happen in a lecture hall or a sanctuary. It happened while he was reading something he thought he already knew.
The Ordinary Text, Reborn
What Bonhoeffer described wasn't a mystical vision or an audible voice. It was a moment when familiar words became unfamiliar — when something he'd read a hundred times suddenly read him. He went on to develop his practice of meditative scripture reading, what he called "letting the word work on you," which shaped the underground seminary he later founded at Finkenwalde.
What This Means for You
You don't need to be a theologian to have this experience. In fact, Bonhoeffer's point was that being a theologian had almost prevented it. The encounter came when he stopped analysing and started listening. If you've read the same verse a hundred times and felt nothing, try reading it one more time — not with your brain, but with whatever part of you is tired of being an expert and ready to be spoken to.