A Cristocentric, Koinonical and Diaconal church

a theological-pastoral view on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's ecclesiology

Abstract

This article aims to highlight the dimensions of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's ecclesiology, whose development is perceived in his theological trajectory. This trajectory continued to evolve, underlying the constant search for the concretions of revelation today, although interrupted as a result of his pastoral option and adherence to the conspiracy against Hitler and the nazism. The ecclesiological foundation on which his theological thought is built also establishes a bridge with practical theology, since the emerging intuitions are presented as a result of personal engagement in the pastoral challenges of his time. Thus, the analysis of Bonhoeffer's theological trajectory, based on his main writings, makes it possible to verify and typify his ecclesial conceptions, systematized in this reflection in three dimensions: communion (koinonia), centrality in the person of Christ (christocentrism) and service (diakonia). Such constitutive and systematized aspects of his ecclesiology, once they receive the look of the theological-pastoral, allow classifying it in a Christocentric, koinonic and diaconal perspective, contributing to the reflection of this theologian's thought on contemporary ecclesial studies, fundamentally in the Latin-American and brazilian contexts

Keywords: Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Ecclesiological thought; Pastoral theology.