I've included a paragraph from the paper below.
... The previous sections of
the paper demonstrate that the Sermon on the Mount occupies a prominent place
throughout much of Bonhoeffer’s theological thought. It forms the foundation of his peace ethic, helps him
describe the life of discipleship, and nuances his understanding of a Christian
ethic. Moreover, the Sermon
continues to influence and shape Bonhoeffer’s emerging theological direction,
especially as it is worked out in Letters
and Papers from Prison. To be
sure, in Bonhoeffer’s later writings, the Sermon on the Mount itself is not
nearly as dominant and pressing an issue as, say, the implication of
religionless Christianity. At this
stage in Bonhoeffer’s thought, the application of the Sermon may not have
remained of much concern to him. At
times, Bonhoeffer himself wonders at his own previous understanding and
interpretation of the Sermon. In a
letter to Eberhard Bethge, for example, he admits that he cannot learn to have
faith simply by living a saintly life, and “I suppose I wrote Discipleship at the end of that path.”[1] Has Bonhoeffer, then, finally found
it necessary to move beyond the Sermon in order to articulate his new
theological direction? On the
contrary, the Sermon retains a vital position in his writings both leading up
to and during his time in prison.[2] It is the fact that Bonhoeffer’s
theology is founded on the Sermon on the Mount that allows him to press
for the emerging concept of religionless Christianity in a world come of age.
[1] Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, 486.
[2] Cf. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Conspiracy and Imprisonment: 1940-1945, vol.
16 of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, English
edition, ed. Mark S. Brocker (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006).
