'Maak in uw woord mijn gang en treden vast'

Samenvatting

Before he started working on his Ethics Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a theological meditation
on Psalm 119,1-21. This article argues that this theological meditation on Psalm
119 helped Bonhoeffer to bridge the gap between Discipleship and Ethics in a Biblical
way. An examination of the role the Psalms played in Bonhoeffer’s life and theology
shows that he ‘discovered’ the Psalms in the context of the liturgy of the Christian community,
which in his view combines living with the Word of God and concrete obedience
in everyday life. The Sermon on the Mount was crucial for discipleship,
but Nachfolge aimed at the concrete sanctification of the Christian community, leaving
open the question of the moral responsibility of the Christian in a secular and even
anti-Christian society.